Do you have any advice for audiences, young or old, who are just getting acquainted with dance?
Oct 12th, 2012 | By Steven Weisz | Category: Archived Articles
Normally I would be writing a column here on this topic, but instead I am hoping all of you will actually create this piece through your comments.
For someone new to seeing dance or just getting acquainted with dance performances or perhaps just considering seeing a performance , what advice would your offer to enhance that experience?
Please respond by posting your comments below. (all comments are moderated and post with in 24 hours once approved)
I think you should just be aware of what you are feeling when you see dance. Allow yourself to be open to the experience. There is no right or wrong way to act or feel when seeing a performance.
And keep in mind that there are many different genres of dance, just as there are in music. I may not love country western but really enjoy classic rock. The same holds true for dance! If you do not like a style of musci, you do not turn off from all music. So try more than one type of performance (ballet, modern, hip hop, cultural, tap, etc.). I guarantee you will find something you will like!
Totally agree with Dee’s comments. There are so many beautiful performances available that can make you feel a range of emotions. I would also add to be in the moment. Let the performance take you on a journey and don’t shy away from an experience because of something you have seen on “reality” TV.
I agree with Dee about her comment to try to experience different genres of dance. Sometimes, though, you may have one viewing of a company or style that doesn’t quite sit with you. This doesn’t mean that the company doesn’t have something else to offer. You can’t compare a ballet company performing Petipa’s “Sleeping Beauty” to that same ballet company dancing Forsythe’s “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated.” “Sleeping Beauty” made me want to be a broadway dancer, but “In the Middle…” made me aspire to become a pro ballet dancer. My best advice would be to try to get some information before you go. Most people watch trailers to movies prior to deciding what to see. Go on the company’s personal website, youtube, and read reviews. If you go into a performance uneducated, you are playing the lottery.
My suggestion: Turn off your inner critic/judge. Be aware, put your attention on what is front of you, nothing else, not thought, not emotion. Experience (take in) the designs, shapes, color, perspective, light, gestures, motion and sound.
Approach it as if you are out in nature soaking in a landscape. Soak in the landscape that is the stage.
Approach the performance as you would a dialogue. Have a conversation with the work. Ask questions. Use information that the choreographers/ collaborators/ artists are giving you to find the answers. Be prepared to think… and enjoy that process. Know that every detail of the performance has been a decision on the part of the artists. Ask why questions… and then go one step further and provide a possible hypothesis, based upon what you know. The artists aren’t trying to trick you. They want to engage you. Engage. Be open to the whole experience as a whole experience and be open as a whole person… what you see, hear, think, feel, smell… all of these will inform the work.
Don’t feel like you have to be a dancer or “know” dance in order to watch a performance. Don’t feel as though you have to “get it” to enjoy it. If what you’re watching makes you feel ANYTHING…even angry or indifferent…it was a successful viewing.
As a Nehiyaw Iskwew (Cree woman) I was told that traditional native dancers are important because as they dance to the drum, the heart beat of mother earth, they help the audience to also be closer to the earth, spiritually and emotionally. Translated into contemporary dance on stage this means that the audience is able to feel what the dancer on stage is feeling. There is a kinaesthetic response our bodies feel when we hear music or watch dance… To be with the dancer as they express and experience different emotions and thoughts is often enough of an experience as an audience member.