Expanded choreographies / Choreographic histories

In the early 21 st century, the term expanded choreography increasingly made its appearance in the contemporary dance field of mainly continental Europe. While there is no unique meaning for the term, expanded choreography often refers to choreographic practices tha t dont lead to the creation of dances, or that dont work with human bodies in motion: for example, some choreographers are interested in movements in urban spaces, while others interrogate how they can choreograph objects or sounds. While this may seem like a transformation or even a betrayal of choreography, if one looks into the history of the word choreography, one finds that it didn`t always mean dance- making. When the term appeared in the early 18 th century, it referred to dance notation; later, to dramaturgy; later, to composition and only in the 20 th century did it become so closely connected to the body in motion. This book explores what links can be found between historical practices of choreography that were not only related to dance and moving human bodies, and contemporary practices of an expanding choreography. It does this because both in the practice and the theory of dance today, the historical background of expanded choreography is not fully understood, resulting in its being pre sented as a contemporary phenomenon shifting away from the past. Contrary to this view, this book argues that present-day expanded practices can be understood as parts o f common long-term (macro) histories. In order to identify links between past and present expanded choreographies, the book analyses nine examples from different periods of European dance history, making comparisons between them. Three among them a treatise about dance notation, through which dances could exist on paper date from before the 18th century, when the word choreography either was not in use or did not have its contemporary meaning(s). Three other examples among which a work where the artist has choreographed trees date from the recent time around the appearance of the term expanded choreography. As different as such examples and their contexts may be, the book finds echos and relations between them. The final three examples date from the 20 th century, when the association of choreography with dance-making and moving bodies was strongest. Here, the book presents practices that countered the omnipresence of the attachment to bodily motion for example, a group of artists making imaginary choreographies and that thus introduced aspects of expandedness within this period of motionally- and physically-focused dance modernity.