ABSTRACT
Contained within the notion that all dance is made (created, choreographed) is the idea that each particular dance requires a series of physical and expressive capacities before it can be performed. Both the physical and the expressive competencies alike are directly related to the work’s context and function. This area of activity we call performance, and in Dance Studies at the undergraduate level it usually includes the act of showing, demonstrating or performing in front of an audience of peers or others relevant to the student’s class work. This might mean the performance of a technical assignment in class, the performance of a solo in a studio theatre or a large ensemble production on stage or on tour. Different forms of preparation are pertinent to each of these modes, and parts of your programme of study will be dedicated to appropriate methods. We learn to perform only to serve the intentions of the makers and as makers ourselves, to be free to realize our own intentions. The acquisition of performance skills is not an end in itself. In addition to the technical skills that dancers learn in classes, the dancer in performance needs to develop other important attributes that contribute to becoming an all-round performer. Understandings about style, interpretation, musicality, expression, focus and projection can all be introduced through dance technique and choreography sessions, but it is only through experiencing the choreographic process and preparing for performance that this capacity can be fully developed. Dancers have personal qualities and physical differences that can become important aspects of the choreographer’s inspiration. Indeed, these differences are often
identified at the audition stage. In the preparation for performance, the relationship between dancers and choreographer in the studio is two-way, a specific kind of dialogue. The dancer needs to understand the intention and style of the choreographer, the nuances of the dance material, and his or her own abilities in the embodiment, transformation and communication of the completed dance. Some of this is dependent on the ways in which the choreographer shares information in the rehearsal room. Other elements too become important in performance; examples include the interrelationships on stage and the ways in which the dancers connect as an ensemble, the particular location of the performance and the inherent qualities of the space, and the relationship of sound and scenography with the dance. All these elements have an effect upon the audience as they observe and absorb the interacting elements of a dance performance. But first, dancers have to be selected.
