The mission of the Open Dance Ensemble is to explore, promote and develop a new choreographic composition technique called self-conducted improv, one in which dancers conduct each other while dancing through a set of gestures and hand signals which they have previously agreed upon. The function of this technique is to bring compositional coherence to the individual improvised movements of the dancers. Self-conducted improv can be applied to any pre-determined theme of the group’s choosing or be used without a specific subject matter for a performance. Since 2017 we have created and presented a range of self-conducted structured improv performances for diverse audiences, from abstract dances to dances with narrative content.