Choreography: a pattern language

Purpose This paper aims to outline recent developments in the field of choreography, especially focusing on the influence of Gregory Bateson's ideas. Choreography is progressing towards a form of art that not only deals with the creation and manipulation of systems of rules, but does so in a non‐deterministic, open way. The author argues that if the world is approached as a reality constructed of interactions, relationships, constellations and proportionalities and choreography is seen as the aesthetic, creative practice of setting those relations – or setting the conditions for those relations – to emerge. Design/methodology/approach Based on ten years practical research and artistic creations, the author introduces choreography as the creative act of ordering, outlining the shift and developments in this field by introducing ideas of system theory and cybernetics, especially as described by Gregory Bateson. Findings Choreography has become a metaphor for dynamic constellations of any kind, consciously choreographed or not, self‐organising or artificially constructed. It has become a metaphor for order, embodied by self‐organising systems as observed in the biological world or superimposed by a human creator. The choreographer deals with patterns and frameworks within the context of an existing, larger, ongoing choreography of physical, mental, and social structures. As an aesthetics of change, the discipline of choreography can be applied to enquire into the dance of life, merging observation, theoretical writing and philosophy with practical rigor and personal expression. Practical implications Choreographic knowledge gained in the field of dance or harvested from perceived patterns in nature should be transferable to other realms of human knowledge production, providing a new aesthetic sensibility in the act of creation. Originality/value This essay delineates choreography as a new aesthetics, the one of change.