Although I believe that the practice of choreography can shed light on the practice of teaching, needless to say, the work of choreographers and classroom teachers is not the same. Although both may be challenged to produce learning on a set timeline (teachers with students over a term, choreographers with dancers over a rehearsal period), the goals of their work differ: Whereas the job of teachers is often conceived as imparting a set body of knowledge, the job of choreographers is to continually create new knowledge, new works of art. Such a charge – along with the fact that dances are composed with dancers– necessitates a fundamentally improvisational and social orientation to the work of facilitating learning. Choreographers must rely on their knowledge and skills in the creative process to establish mutual understandings and realize a final performance. Dancers and their ideas, their unexpected interactions, and even their errors are part of the raw material from which to craft an artwork. Although improvisational practices may be unfamiliar to many classroom teachers, choreography offers valuable lessons on how this approach to pedagogy can be used effectively to advance the thinking and knowledge of all members of a learning
community.