This chapter acts as an overture to the book as a whole. It sets out the connections between dance and poetry and provides a rationale for an exploration of the connection. It also justifies the international approach to the topic. Definitions of key terms are included and discussed. Thereafter, the Introduction addresses the correspondences between dance, poetry and music; the phenomenon of the blank or ‘white’ page; and the common element of pattern-seeking in dance and poetry. Although music acts as a common ground for both dance and poetry, the book aims to focus on the direct connections between dance and poetry, choreography and prosody. The Introduction ends with summaries of the following chapters. The aim of the book is to look for analogies and formal correspondences between dance and poetry in order to shed light on both, with an emphasis on how dance and dance choreography can shed light on poetry, poetic form and the teaching of poetry. The book moves beyond the Anglo-American and European traditions and contexts to address a more richly international world of reference. In doing so, it aims also to contribute to the de-colonisation of the academic study of dance and poetry.