The dancer's toolkit: body, space, time, energy and relationships

Stand up and walk across the room. Now walk as if you have just won a race. Now walk as if you're late and scared. Your legs did the same job each time, but the meaning changed completely. Choreographers (people who make dances) control that change on purpose, using five elements.

The five elements

One change, a new meaning

Take a simple movement: reaching one arm up. Do it slowly at a low level and it can look like someone waking up or growing. Do it sharply at a high level with the whole group in unison, and it can look like a protest or a victory. Nothing changed except the elements.

Stillness is a move too

Beginners often keep moving the whole time. Experienced dancers know that a freeze can be the most powerful moment on stage. The audience leans in. A group that holds a strong shape for four counts before the music drops gives everyone time to feel it.

Symbols in movement

A symbol is something that stands for something else. In dance, a slumped posture can stand for sadness, a reaching hand for hope, a circle of dancers for whānau or unity. Many dance forms have their own symbols. In kapa haka, the hands quivering in the air (wiri) are often described as showing the shimmer of heat or the life force of the performer. Before you use a symbol from another culture, find out what it means and whether it is yours to use. It's usually better to invent your own.

Use the toolkit

When you watch any dance, from a music video to a kapa haka bracket, ask: what are the bodies doing, where are they going, how fast, with what energy, and how do the dancers relate to each other? Then use the same questions to build your own.