For this study a curriculum was designed which encouraged high school students to explore non-musical inspirations for their choreography. The questions of concern in this study were: 1) What are the effects of non-musical inspirations on high school student choreography? 2) What curriculum will be most effective for encouraging student creativity? 3) How will this new curriculum align with national and state curriculum standards? 4) Will students and audiences be emotionally connected to compositions created this way? Students were led through a series of choreographic and improvisational lessons, and at the conclusion of the lessons students rehearsed selected pieces of choreography and performed in a concert. Audience members were asked their thoughts about the performance to gauge if there was a connection to the dance pieces performed, and if they preferred this concert to previous concerts. This study informed the creation of a comprehensive research-based choreography curriculum for a public high school dance program