About the Dances
Do you have a dance that you’d like to have accurately archived in a format that can be easily referenced for future restagings? Or, are you inspired to create a new work and want to save lots of face-to-face time with your dancers by pre-visualizing the blocking before beginning rehearsals? DanceScript might be the ideal solution!
Archiving Choreography
The DanceScript initiative offers a technique that supports the detailed and intricate documentation of how a choreographer effectively uses the stage space within their dance. This is most relevant for dances in which the creator intends for there to be consistency in blocking each time a work is performed. The spatial relationships between performers can be illustrated meticulously, which results in a lack of deviation when roles are interpreted by dancers. This level of detail helps to ensure that the dance is recreated according to the choreographer’s intention for generations to come.
DanceScript is initially prioritizing American choreographers and professional companies in the first round of scripting projects. Choreographies that are ideal for staging notation are those that rely on specific and complex use of stage space. Visit the Product page for excerpts from the 2024 script created for José Limón’s 1954 work, The Traitor.
The following DanceScript archival projects are in the works:
Alwin Nikolais' Tensile Involvement (1953)
In collaboration with the Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance, INC, NYC
Alberto del Saz, Artistic Director
4m 44s, 10 dancers
Anna Sokolow's Session for Six (1958)
In collaboration with the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble, NYC
Samantha Géracht, Artistic Director
8m, 6 dancers
The following American choreographers and professional dance companies are invited to submit proposals: Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Paul Taylor, Erick Hawkins, Alvin Ailey, Daniel Nagrin, Katherine Dunham, Lester Horton, Anna Sokolow, Ron K. Brown/EVIDENCE, José Limón, Mark Morris, Philadanco!, Twyla Tharp, American Ballet Theatre (George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Agnes de Mille, Mikhail Fokin, Marius Petipa, Antony Tudor, Léonide Massine, Eliot Feld, Kyle Abraham), The Joffrey Ballet, Trey McIntyre Project (Trey McIntyre), Parsons Dance (David Parsons), Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance (Alwin Nikolais, Murray Louis), Pilobolus, Momix (Moses Pendleton), Camille A. Brown, Dance Theatre of Harlem (Arthur Mitchell), Complexions Contemporary Ballet (Dwight Rhoden, Desmond Richardson), Alonzo King LINES, STREB (Elizabeth Streb), Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Suzanne Farrell Ballet (George Balanchine), Doug Varone & Dancers (Doug Varone), Pacific Northwest Ballet, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Trisha Brown Dance Company (Trisha Brown).
Other choreographers and professional companies interested in presenting a proposal for a collaboration with DanceScript may begin the conversation by sending an email from the DanceScript Contact page. Projects can be customized to fit the needs of the contracting organization.
Pre-visualizing Choreography
The DanceScript initiative has evolved throughout over three decades of choreographic pre-visualization and post-performance blocking notation of the dances by Tim Glenn. The DanceScript technique facilitates a choreographer’s ability to sketch ideas for the blocking of dancers within a stage, preconceiving creative possibilities for the work.
Acknowledging that choreographers may successfully implement a wide range of methods for creating a dance, this “staging first” approach has many benefits. A substantial amount of creative brainstorming can occur before encumbering the costs of dancers and studio space rental. Preliminary ideas may be tested and later arranged into the chronological structure for the dance. Having an idea of where dancers will be positioned on the stage, and how many performers will be visible, helps the choreographer to imagine the type of movement that would be effective within that spatial arrangement or directional pathways. If the pre-visualized choreography is set to existing music, it becomes possible to determine the duration (number of counts, if metered) between each page of the script. The wing in which any dancers offstage are positioned may be tracked. This helps to determine upcoming entrances or the need for a crossover. The script can be easily modified throughout the creative process to reflect in-the-moment artistic decisions. Once finalized, the DanceScript may be archived for future use, providing all the benefits described above in the Archiving Choreography section.
The following DanceScript pre-visualization projects are in the works:
Tim Glenn's Hammers, Sticks, & Strings (2026)
Florida State University School of Dance
Tim Glenn, Choreographer and Staging Notator
12m, 16+ dancers
For more information about the notator and history of dances that inspired the DanceScript project, visit the Notator site.