Paper details
CRITIQUE GUIDELINES
Dance Appreciation 101
This is a list of things to think about when writing your critique. It is not to be used as an
outline of specific questions to answer, and not as a form for your critique to follow.
YOU MUST WRITE ABOUT EACH DANCE! Follow formatting requirements for writing
assignments. Critique must be AT LEAST two full pages in length.
• Who, what, where, why: in regard to the entire concert OR to individual dances
• Physical description: lighting, costumes, scenery, props, music
• Choreography:
1. Motion – jumping, kicking, turning, rolling, gestures, etc…
jerky, smooth
2. Shape – moving or static shapes, poses, patterns
symmetrical or asymmetrical
groups or individuals
3. Space – outside–on the stage
inside–the dancer’s focus
4. Time – fast or slow, long or short
duration of dancer’s movements
NOTE: Are these elements related throughout the dance? Is the dance consistent in its mood or
manner of presentation? What movements, gestures, or shapes were repeated? How did the lighting,
costumes, scenery, or music change? Is there a major theme, or a motif, that is repeated throughout a
single dance, or the entire concert?
• Meaning:
1. Tell a story, or represent a type of behavior (imitation)?
2. Express an emotion, or an idea (expression)?
3. If abstract (form), was it focused on a particular theme?
4. Did it depict an event, another historical era, or another culture?
5. Did lighting, costumes, scenery, props, or music represent emotions, ideas, or concepts in a
symbolic or literal (or both!) way?
1. Did movements, gestures, shapes, or patterns represent emotions, ideas, or concepts in a
symbolic or literal (or both!) way?
• Genre:
1. Modern or Dance-theatre
2. Ballet (traditional or contemporary)
3. Ethnic or Folk
4. Jazz, Tap, or Musical Theatre
• Reactions:
1. How did this dance make you feel?
sad, happy, angry, sympathetic, disturbed, uplifted, curious, etc….
2. What did this dance make you think about?
yourself, friends, family, peers, society, your culture, other cultures, etc….
OR abstract concepts: love, hate, beauty, truth, etc.…