You've outgrown the beginner's rush of discovery, yet the virtuosity of advanced dancers still feels distant. The intermediate phase in contemporary dance is uniquely challenging—technique no longer suffices, and the artistic questions become harder, not easier. This is where many dancers plateau, repeating familiar patterns without deepening their practice.
These seven strategies address the specific tensions of intermediate-level contemporary dance: moving from acquisition to refinement, from imitation to authorship, from dancing in space to dancing with it.
1. Refine Your Relationship with Technique
At the intermediate level, you've likely encountered multiple lineages—perhaps Cunningham's precision, Graham's contraction and release, or release-based approaches that deliberately minimize verticality. Rather than defaulting to ballet as your foundation, take a diagnostic approach to your technical training.
Record yourself in class and analyze where efficiency breaks down. Do you initiate movement from your periphery rather than your core? Does your breath consistently arrive late to the impulse? Intermediate dancers often stagnate by repeating beginner corrections ("point your feet," "drop your shoulders") rather than addressing nuanced alignment issues that now limit your range.
Consider which technical frameworks genuinely serve your body and artistic goals. A dancer drawn to grounded, weighted movement may find more relevant preparation in Klein Technique or Bartenieff Fundamentals than in additional ballet classes.
2. Develop Floor Work Fluency
Unlike ballet or jazz, contemporary dance frequently interrogates the vertical. The floor is not merely a surface to reach or leave—it is a three-dimensional performance space to inhabit.
Practice descending to and ascending from the floor with minimal momentum. This reveals gaps in core organization that jumping and turning might obscure. Study techniques like Flying Low (developed by David Zambrano) or Passing Through to understand spiraling pathways and weight-sharing mechanics.
The intermediate dancer should move beyond "getting down" to owning transitions. Can you initiate movement from your back as readily as your feet? Can you reverse the pathway of a fall? Floor work proficiency separates those who perform contemporary choreography from those who embody it.
3. Cultivate Improvisation as Research
Improvisation in contemporary dance is not merely spontaneous movement—it is a rigorous practice of decision-making under pressure. Move beyond "dancing around" to structured investigation.
Try Gaga classes to explore texture and effort quality without mirrors. Practice blind improvisation to dislodge visual habits. Set specific constraints: improvise using only three body parts as initiation points, or maintain continuous contact with the floor while traveling through space.
Video your sessions. The gap between what you feel you're doing and what you actually do is often widest at the intermediate level, where bodily awareness hasn't yet caught up with expanding technical vocabulary.
4. Analyze Rather Than Consume
Passive viewing won't develop your artistic intelligence. Select one work—perhaps Pina Bausch's Rite of Spring, William Forsythe's In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, or Crystal Pite's Betroffenheit—and watch three times with distinct focuses:
| Viewing | Focus |
|---|---|
| First | Overall architecture and emotional arc |
| Second | Choreographic devices: unison, canon, accumulation, counterpoint |
| Third | Performative quality: gaze, breath, relationship between dancers |
Then ask: How does this choreographer treat time? Is movement generated from internal or external impulse? How is space carved, abandoned, revisited?
Attend live performance whenever possible. Contemporary dance is fundamentally relational—the exchange between performer and spectator completes the work. Local independent artists often offer post-show discussions or open rehearsals; these process-oriented insights are invaluable for understanding how work is made, not merely presented.
5. Invest in Somatic Practices
Contemporary dance increasingly draws from somatic disciplines that re-educate neuromuscular patterning. These practices address the intermediate dancer's challenge: unlearning habits that now limit possibility.
- Feldenkrais Method: Develop awareness through small, precise movements that reorganize habitual patterns
- Body-Mind Centering: Explore anatomical systems (fluids, organs, ligaments) as sources of movement quality
- Alexander Technique: Address postural habits that create unnecessary tension in dynamic movement
Unlike technique class, somatic work is non-performative. This can feel frustrating to achievement-oriented dancers. Persist. The integration happens gradually, revealing itself in efficiency, range, and unexpected creative choices.
6. Set Process Goals, Not Just Outcome Goals
"Get better at improvisation" is vague. "Improvise for 20 minutes weekly using breath as my only score" is actionable and assessable.
At the intermediate level, shift from quantity metrics (hours in class, number of performances) to quality investigations:
- Identify three technical patterns to *unlearn
