Dancers Talking Dance

Book excerpt: Learn how to formulate critical responses to the dances you see, create, and perform. In Dancers Talking Dance, author Larry Lavender outlines the five-step ORDER approach to critical evaluation: Observation, Reflection, Discussion, Evaluation, and Recommendations for revisions. Lavender introduces and explains the approach by interweaving practical, how-to examples with explanations of the theories underlying each step. He also provides writing and discussion ideas designed to stimulate thinking about the critical process and how it works. With these skills, you will learn how to observe, describe, analyze, write, and talk more effectively about dances and other works of art. Dancers Talking Dance will enrich your choreography experiences and expand you critical skills, helping you to become a more articulate, creative, and confident dancer.