Contemporary Dance Homework.....helpp?

What are some good contemporary dance moves?

• this is my 11th year in dancing. i'm not one of those professional dancers, i just go to a little dance studio in my town. next year is my senior year, and i have to do a solo for our dance recital. i also want to dance at my school's talent show. the song i want to dance to is Fall For You by Secondhand Serenade. what are some good contemporary dance moves for this song? i'm flexible, but i can't do crazy jumps and leaps like the pros do! but im graceful and i love to dance. i just need some help! thanks so much (:

• Answer:

  The thing about contemporary is that there really aren't any set moves. When choreographing a contemporary routine, you want to avoid the strictness, structure, and technique that other dance styles have, like ballet specifically, because contemporary really has no technique or structure. You can, of course, take some ballet moves and use those in your choreography, but then that wouldn't be contemporary anymore; that'd be ballet. So what you can do is you can take different moves (ballet, jazz, hip hop, you name it), change them into your own style, and then incorporate them into your choreography. That way you have a completely unique and original piece of choreography that you can rightfully call your own. Be creative! Take advantage of gravity (many dancers like to use the "rise-and-fall" techinque) and incorporate floor work into your routines. Watch different contemporary routines (you can find tons of them on YouTube) and gather inspiration from them (but don't copy!).