How can a dance score show the difference between choreography and a dancer’s individual performance?

A dance score serves as a record of the choreography itself, rather than a record of an individual dancer’s performance. While a video recording captures a specific instance of a work—often including a dancer's personal mannerisms, technical interpretations, or mistakes—a notated score preserves the essential movement concepts intended by the choreographer.123

By using a system such as labanotation, a score objectively documents the structural elements of the work, including:

• The use of stage space.1
• The relationship of performers to one another and to the music.1
• The development of movement themes.1
• Spatial nuances, dynamics, and temporal relationships.4

Because a score focuses on these fundamental components, it allows viewers and performers to distinguish between the core choreographic work and the stylistic variations or unintentional distortions introduced by individual performers. Consequently, notation acts as a vital tool for the faithful preservation of dance, preventing the "accumulative distortion" that often occurs when works are passed down solely through memory or by imitating specific performance recordings.1