In contemporary, improvisation isn't random — it's a trainable tool. Using Laban principles and task scores to develop your own movement.
"How am I supposed to 'just improvise' when nothing comes to mind?" The honest answer: you're not — and that's not the point anyway. Good improvisation in contemporary isn't a spontaneous flash of genius, it's a trainable craft with clear tools.
The first tool comes from Rudolf Laban and breaks every movement into four building blocks: Body (which body parts move, how they relate to each other), Effort (the quality of energy — fast or slow, heavy or light, direct or indirect), Shape (what forms emerge) and Space (where in the room, on which level). Deliberately turning just one of these four dials automatically produces new movement — without waiting for "inspiration."
That this really works is shown by a study of 92 students: one group trained targeted movement improvisation, another aerobic dance, a third served as a control — ten 30-minute sessions each, twice weekly over five weeks. The result: the improvisation group showed the strongest effect on motor fluency and creative flexibility, clearly ahead of aerobic dance and the control. Translated: 30 minutes, twice a week, is already enough to measurably train your creative movement ability.
Improvisation is also historically the origin of much contemporary choreography — movement material often first emerges through free exploration before it becomes a phrase. That's exactly the process you're training here: from finding to consciously selecting.
Start with a single dimension: today, move with only Effort in focus — sometimes maximally heavy and bound, sometimes light and free. Tomorrow, try the same movement idea through Space only — a different level, a different direction. That trains you systematically, not randomly.
Instead of "just" improvising freely, give yourself a constraint: move using only two body parts on the floor. Find five different ways to fall and recover. Tasks (scores) reduce the decision paralysis that overwhelms many beginners facing an empty room.
The study of 92 students shows: regular improvisation training — just 30 minutes, twice a week — brings measurably more than casual "trying it out". Schedule fixed time for it, just like you do for technique class.
After every improvisation phase: briefly repeat and capture the two or three strongest movement moments — on video or in a short note. This is exactly where the shift from improvisation to composition begins: raw material becomes consciously selected material.
Combine three to five discovered movements into a short, repeatable sequence. That's the next step: from spontaneous movement to deliberately shaped choreography — the skill companies later want to see at auditions.
Improvisation doesn't mean uncontrolled. Especially with floor work or off-balance improvisation, the same principles apply as in guided training: start slowly, check the space around you (other dancers, walls, props), and only then increase speed and dynamics.
Improvise new, riskier movement ideas alone and in slow motion first, before carrying them into a group improvisation or a performance situation.
Build yourself a small catalog of 10 to 15 tasks (scores) you can pull out when "nothing comes to mind." Choreographers like William Forsythe have built entire careers on systematically collected improvisation tasks — that's not a stopgap, it's professional method.
An extra trick: improvise the same task three times in a row. The first version is usually the obvious one, the third often the most interesting — your brain has already worked through the obvious solutions by then.
No. A study of 92 students shows that targeted improvisation training — just 30 minutes, twice a week — produces measurable effects on motor fluency, regardless of prior experience. Improvisation is a trainable craft, not an innate talent.
Improvisation is freely generating movement material in the moment. Composition is the conscious second step: selecting the best finds, ordering them, and assembling them into a repeatable phrase. One follows from the other.
Give yourself a concrete task instead of improvising "freely" — for example one of the four Laban dimensions (body, effort, shape, space). Constraints free your mind instead of overwhelming it with endless possibilities.
Just two 30-minute sessions a week showed the strongest effect on creative movement ability in the study — clearly ahead of pure aerobic training. Consistency beats intensity here too.
Contact Improvisation: Truly Sharing Weight