Dance Choreography Essentials
Online Certificate Course
Behind every compelling dance performance lies methodical preparation, clear compositional choices, and deep understanding of how bodies move through time and space. Dance Choreography Essentials is the comprehensive guide for dancers and creators learning to transform raw movement into finished work. Led by Juilliard’s celebrated faculty alongside luminaries from the New York City dance world, you'll develop a careful, methodical approach to making dance rooted in intention and shaped by thoughtful choices.
100% Online. On Your Schedule.
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Industry Experts
Bobbi Jene Smith
Faculty, The Juilliard SchoolCo-Founder, American Modern Opera Company
Choreographer, Martha Graham Dance Company, Paris Opera Ballet & Annihilation
Chanel DaSilva
Co-Founder, MOVE|NYCChoreographer, The Joffrey Ballet & American Repertory Theater
Lawrence Keigwin
Artistic Director, KEIGWIN + COMPANYChoreographer, Paul Taylor Dance Company
Patricia Delgado
Faculty, The Juilliard SchoolPrincipal Dancer, Miami City Ballet
Tony Award for Best Choreography, Buena Vista Social Club
John Heginbotham
Founder, Dance HeginbothamPerformer, Mark Morris Dance Group
Yara Travesio
Faculty, The Juilliard SchoolResident, Chelsea Factory
Logan Kruger
Associate Artistic Director, Limón Dance Company 
Tobin Del Cuore
Producer, Imagination + MuscleDancer, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company
Program Overview
Real-World Examples
Learn from prestigious Juilliard faculty and NYC dance luminaries with on-demand video lessons. Develop real-world skills and original choreography with guidance from industry experts.
Get Started Now
100% online and on-demand course materials allow you to complete the certificate program on a schedule that works best for you.
Build Expertise
Learn from leading faculty and working choreographers with exclusive on-demand video lessons. Develop practical skills through self-paced projects and hands-on assignments that grow your choreographic portfolio.
Set Yourself Apart
Earn a Certificate of Completion from the world-renowned Juilliard Extension. Add it to your profile and resume to stand out in the dance industry.
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Curriculum
Make your mark as a choreographer. On YOUR schedule.
The program includes five online modules with related skill-building activities. Each module is 3-5 hours, broken into shorter lessons for maximum flexibility. Assignments and hands-on projects reinforce key concepts and build your professional portfolio.
Earn a non-credit certificate of completion from Juilliard Extension.
| Discover the three interconnected elements that form the foundation of all choreography: time, space, and energy. Learn how manipulating speed, duration, rhythm, size, level, and effort transforms the mood, texture, and meaning of movement. Build fluency in the core language of choreographic choice and unlock infinite variation from minimal material. |  |
| Deepen your craft by analyzing complete works across the spectrum from pure narrative to pure abstraction. Learn how storytelling, character, and gesture function in narrative work, and how abstraction prioritizes form and musicality. Explore hybrid approaches and discover the logic behind master choreographers’ choices to ask new questions about your own work. |  |
| Explore multiple creative starting points, from music and concept to pure improvisation. Study choreographic devices like repetition, augmentation, retrograde, and chance procedures that refine your ideas. Discover game-based strategies and scoring techniques that unlock surprising material. Build a toolkit you can return to throughout your career. |  |
| Step beyond the traditional stage and learn how to scout locations, secure permissions, and navigate terrain and safety. Discover how to create movement born from a specific place or adapt existing work to a new environment. Develop sensitivity to what a space offers and the flexibility to let those discoveries reshape your initial ideas. |  |
| Develop screendance as a distinct art form where the camera and editing become choreographic tools. Learn the entire workflow from pre-production planning through finished film: shot selection, framing, camera movement, and the crucial role of editing in shaping time and energy. Create your own short dance for camera using accessible technology. |  |
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