This article considers the ontological premises for tools in artists’ education, specifically in choreography studies at the master-of-arts level. The topic has proven to be crucial in planning and executing a curriculum of study in the contemporary age of pluralistic aesthetic intentions as any tool, as habitually understood, is ready-to-use according to its disclosed purpose and thus has, in a way, already solved some aspects of the singular research question posed between the artist and the prevailing world. The topic of tools turns out to be a wider question of contemporary poetics (techniques, methods, knowledge) and of ontological considerations of the nature of poiesis and artwork.
The topic of contemporary poetics was extensively discussed in a 2011-2013 Erasmus Intensive project, which was an educational collaboration among six European master’s programmes in dance and physically based performance in which the writer took part. This article reports some aspects of that discussion and elaborates on a traditionally widely used concept in choreography education–namely, composition. The article tackles the complex issue of poetics and tools by, firstly, discussing poiesis and the