Top 12 Choreographer Skills to Put on Your Resume
In dance and performance, a choreographer’s resume has to pulse with craft. Ideas. People sense. The strongest profiles blend imaginative vision with crisp technique and steady leadership. The skills below spotlight how you conceive, build, and communicate movement that lands with audiences—and keeps collaborators eager to work with you.
Choreographer Skills
- Choreography
- Ballet
- Jazz
- Hip-Hop
- Modern Dance
- Improvisation
- Dance Notation (Labanotation)
- Movement Analysis
- Performance Direction
- Rehearsal Management
- Dance Education
- Final Cut Pro (for editing performance videos)
1. Choreography
Choreography is the craft of shaping sequences of movement for live or recorded performance. You map energy, timing, space, and intention to music or sound—or to silence—so bodies speak stories and feeling without a word.
Why It's Important
It gives structure to inspiration. It threads emotion through form. Thoughtful choreography elevates performers, clarifies narrative, and transforms a stage into a world the audience can feel in their bones.
How to Improve Choreography Skills
Grow breadth, sharpen tools, keep your curiosity blazing.
Study varied styles: Expand your movement vocabulary across genres to spark fresh pathways.
Watch voraciously: Live shows, rehearsal reels, archives. Dissect choices—phrasing, transitions, spatial design.
Keep training: Workshops, intensives, cross-disciplinary labs. New technique = new ideas.
Collaborate: Dancers, composers, designers. Diverse minds catalyze unexpected solutions.
Use improvisation: Mine the moment. Capture happy accidents. Shape them into motif and variation.
Seek critique: Invite peers and mentors to respond to works-in-progress. Edit bravely.
Record and review: Video everything. Spot muddy transitions, timing drifts, or spacing gaps.
Condition your body: Strength, mobility, endurance. Demonstration clarity matters.
Keep a process journal: Track seeds, scores, images, musical maps. Patterns emerge.
Be patient: A voice takes time. Show up, refine, repeat.
Small, steady refinements compound. Your signature movement language starts to ring unmistakably.
How to Display Choreography Skills on Your Resume
2. Ballet
Ballet is a codified classical technique defined by line, clarity, musical precision, and control. For choreographers, it’s both foundation and palette—rigor meeting lyricism—ready to be honored, bent, or broken.
Why It's Important
Ballet builds alignment, articulation, and timing. That technical backbone empowers intricate partnering, ensemble unison, and nuanced musical phrasing across many styles.
How to Improve Ballet Skills
Blend discipline with curiosity.
Expand vocabulary: Deepen classical technique while sampling contemporary influences to refresh phrasing.
Study music: Dynamics, meter shifts, breath between counts—let the score steer movement quality.
Collaborate and get feedback: Coaches, répétiteurs, and dancers sharpen detail and intention.
Analyze performances: Note structure, transitions, use of levels, and ensemble spacing from leading companies.
Experiment: Invert steps, alter facings, mix weight-sharing with classical line. Risk reveals voice.
Keep learning: Workshops and pedagogy seminars sustain growth and network.
Precision plus nerve—that’s where memorable ballet-informed work ignites.
How to Display Ballet Skills on Your Resume
3. Jazz
Jazz dance is groove-forward, rhythm-rich, and born from African American roots. It prizes individuality, syncopation, and an elastic blend of styles—often cross-pollinating with ballet and modern.
Why It's Important
For choreographers, jazz opens a vibrant toolkit: attack and melt, crisp isolations, sly timing choices, and character-driven swagger. It can tell a story fast and punchy—or simmer with subtlety.
How to Improve Jazz Skills
Craft with pulse and personality.
Study lineage: Dive into iconic works and methods to understand groove, phrasing, and character.
Deepen musicality: Hear off-beats, accents, textures. Let instrumentation shape weight and breath.
Sharpen technique: Turns, kicks, footwork, floorwork. Strength and flexibility keep lines clean and safe.
Blend styles: Fold in contemporary, ballet, or hip-hop to evolve your voice.
Iterate with feedback: Build, test with dancers, refine—repeat.
Keep the training loop alive: Classes and workshops maintain edge and inspiration.
Rhythm first, story second, slick precision threading through both.
How to Display Jazz Skills on Your Resume
4. Hip-Hop
Hip-hop is a family of street-born forms—breaking, popping, locking, and beyond—rooted in community, rhythm, and freestyle invention. It’s elastic, witty, athletic, and fiercely expressive.
Why It's Important
It offers a modern movement language that speaks to culture now. Choreographers channel intricate rhythms, character, and narrative through kinetic, crowd-connecting vocabulary.
How to Improve Hip-Hop Skills
Keep it honest, grounded, musical.
Master foundations: Train basics across styles, drill grooves, and refine texture changes.
Level up musicality: Map lyrics, percussion layers, and negative space. Choreograph to the silence as much as the beat.
Create boldly: Fuse influences, flip patterns, and play with tempo shifts and storytelling.
Tell a story: Characters, stakes, arcs—let intention dictate movement choice.
Practice and get notes: Record, review, invite critique, adjust—then run it again.
Style lives in detail: textures, transitions, commitment.
How to Display Hip-Hop Skills on Your Resume
5. Modern Dance
Modern dance broke from classical confines to chase authenticity, gravity, and human impulse. It prizes intention over ornament, experimentation over rote rules.
Why It's Important
It grants choreographers a wide-open lab for theme, form, and sensation. Big ideas, intimate gestures—modern supports both without apology.
How to Improve Modern Dance Skills
Interrogate structure. Court risk.
Grow your toolkit: Explore multiple techniques and somatic practices to diversify phrasing.
Study and collaborate: Workshops, showings, and cross-artist projects ignite new tactics.
Integrate tech thoughtfully: Sound design, projection, interactive media—when it serves the work, use it.
Clarify narrative: Abstract or literal, anchor the piece with a clear thematic spine.
Invite critique and reflect: Feedback sessions, postmortems, iteration cycles—keep learning.
Train body and mind: Conditioning, mobility, and mental wellness fuel sustainable artistry.
Experiment: Break expectation. Redefine the rules of your own stage.
Originality grows where curiosity meets rigor.
How to Display Modern Dance Skills on Your Resume
6. Improvisation
Improvisation is spontaneous composition—movement created in the moment—used to discover texture, timing, and ideas that scripted steps might miss.
Why It's Important
It unlocks originality, sharpens responsiveness, and deepens your relationship to music, space, and partner. Many choreographic seeds are born here.
How to Improve Improvisation Skills
Give yourself permission to roam—and then shape.
- Practice often: Set timers, pick prompts, move without judgment.
- Expand movement vocabulary: Train in multiple styles; new inputs create new outputs.
- Use diverse stimuli: Music changes, spoken text, visual art, silence—shift your source and see what arrives.
- Collaborate: Duets and group jams reveal patterns and possibilities.
- Record and review: Notice habits, then subvert them.
- Ask for feedback: Fresh eyes catch gold you might overlook.
From chaos to clarity—curation is the second act.
How to Display Improvisation Skills on Your Resume
7. Dance Notation (Labanotation)
Labanotation is a precise written system for recording human movement. For choreographers, it’s an archival and transmission tool—documenting work so it can be taught, staged, and preserved accurately.
Why It's Important
Complex choreography survives time when it’s clearly notated. Dancers learn faster, remounts stay faithful, and research becomes possible.
How to Improve Dance Notation (Labanotation) Skills
Clarity beats cleverness.
Formal training: Study core principles to increase accuracy and fluency.
Use notation software: Tools like LabanWriter streamline drafting and revision.
Consult experts: Work with certified notators to review and refine scores.
Feedback in rehearsal: Cross-check notation against dancer execution and adjust for clarity.
Customize thoughtfully: Add legends or annotations for unusual devices or spacing.
Archive responsibly: Organize, back up, and catalogue for future staging and study.
The better the map, the smoother the journey from page to stage.
How to Display Dance Notation (Labanotation) Skills on Your Resume
8. Movement Analysis
Movement analysis is the close study of how bodies move—mechanics, efficiency, intent—so you can coach safer, cleaner, more expressive performance that aligns with your vision.
Why It's Important
It reveals strengths, limits, and leverage points. With it, you tailor choreography to real bodies, reduce injury risk, and elevate storytelling through precision.
How to Improve Movement Analysis Skills
Observe, measure, refine.
Study across forms: Pattern-spotting grows when you know many techniques.
Use video breakdowns: Slow motion and frame-by-frame review expose timing, pathway, and alignment issues.
Join workshops: Learn new diagnostic methods and share strategies with peers.
Apply biomechanics: Understand force, leverage, and joint loading to shape safe, powerful phrases.
Collaborate: Co-analyze with dancers; their felt sense plus your eye equals faster fixes.
Small technical tweaks can unlock big expressive payoffs.
How to Display Movement Analysis Skills on Your Resume
9. Performance Direction
Performance direction is the art of shaping interpretation in the room—guiding dynamics, intention, timing, and connection so choreography lands as envisioned when the lights hit.
Why It's Important
It’s the bridge between steps and story. Strong direction aligns performers around tone and detail, creating cohesion that audiences feel instantly.
How to Improve Performance Direction Skills
Lead with clarity, listen with care.
Define the vision: Articulate theme, stakes, and qualities. Precision in language begets precision in performance.
Know your cast: Build on strengths, support growth areas, assign roles wisely.
Give actionable notes: Specific, bite-sized adjustments beat vague critique.
Stay adaptive: If something isn’t reading, adjust timing, spacing, or intention.
Support wellness: Warm-ups, cooldowns, and mental readiness rituals keep performances consistent.
Direction is rhythm: speak, test, refine, repeat.
How to Display Performance Direction Skills on Your Resume
10. Rehearsal Management
Rehearsal management is scheduling, goal-setting, and room-running so the work progresses efficiently and morale stays high.
Why It's Important
Good process saves time, prevents burnout, and turns rough ideas into clean, confident performance.
How to Improve Rehearsal Management Skills
Structure with flexibility.
Plan early: Clear calendars, scene lists, and benchmarks keep everyone aligned.
Communicate cleanly: Centralize updates and expectations. Fewer surprises, faster progress.
Use supportive tools: Shared calendars, task boards, and cue notes streamline logistics.
Build a feedback loop: Record rehearsals, review together, and apply edits quickly.
Prioritize safety: Warm-ups, breaks, hydration, floor checks—prevent injuries before they start.
Keep learning: Adopt new rehearsal methods that suit your team and timeline.
Clarity and cadence make a productive room.
How to Display Rehearsal Management Skills on Your Resume
11. Dance Education
Dance education for choreographers means teaching technique, composition, and performance skills while nurturing creative voice and healthy practice.
Why It's Important
It deepens your grasp of movement principles, strengthens communication with dancers, and expands the pipeline of well-trained, imaginative performers.
How to Improve Dance Education Skills
Teach for discovery and inclusivity.
Fuel creativity: Assign improvisation and composition tasks that invite choice-making.
Use technology when helpful: Choreography notes, rehearsal videos, and design tools can clarify learning.
Be inclusive: Offer multiple entry points, honor diverse styles, and adapt for different bodies and abilities.
Engage community: Guest artists, field trips, and showings expand perspectives.
Commit to development: Conferences and pedagogy training sharpen curriculum and assessment.
Embed feedback and reflection: Peer review, journals, and debriefs make growth visible.
Great educators make great collaborators—and better choreographers.
How to Display Dance Education Skills on Your Resume
12. Final Cut Pro (for editing performance videos)
Final Cut Pro is a professional video editor for shaping dance films, reels, and archival recordings with polish and precision.
Why It's Important
Clean edits showcase timing, staging, and detail. With strong post-production, your choreography reads clearly and looks its best.
How to Improve Final Cut Pro (for editing performance videos) Skills
Edit smarter, not harder.
Streamline media: Use optimized or proxy media for smooth playback on complex projects.
Enable background rendering: Keep cutting while effects render behind the scenes.
Learn shortcuts: Customize keys for trimming, snapping, and navigation to move faster.
Use adjustment layers: Apply global color or effects across sections without clip-by-clip edits.
Cut multicam: Sync multiple angles and switch in real time for performance clarity.
Clear sightlines, clean sound, honest color—all in service of the dance.
How to Display Final Cut Pro (for editing performance videos) Skills on Your Resume
