ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the idea of tension between performers, between performers and the space they inhabit, and between performers and audience. It investigates how a dancers’ intention catches our attention. Borrowing the poet G. M. Hopkins’ notions of instress and inscape to further explore the improvisers’ experience. Drawing on the individual’s experience and helping students develop reflexivity, to understand what they are feeling and provide means of communicating this both in practice and in offering feedback. There are teaching strategies to help students recognize and understand tension, and both positive and negative examples of tension from practice and performance.
