I’ll chime in to say that when I first started working with dancers, I thought they would want to dance to music I’d already recorded. But I’ve had the best/most rewarding experiences when the process is more deeply collaborative, especially when the choreographer has some movement or artistic direction that informs my compositional process. It can be a bit frustrating to balance the power dynamic but I usually end up making something I wouldn’t have otherwise, and it expands my sense of what I am able/want to do. I’ve worked (briefly) with a couple choreographers who wanted me to do whatever they want, and not really have any artistic input myself, and it doesn’t work well for me.
I don’t remember where but I’ve written a bit on the compositional process for dance, if I can’t find the writing I’ll share a bit here. In any case I recommend going to some dance shows at a local uni or finding a contemporary company and going to a show; if you like what they do find them afterward and give them something with info on how to hear your music. If you do that with enough people, someone will probably reach out to get together and try some things.
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