The Audience, The Choreographer, The Dancer

Allie Berg
Dance 261 Orientation to Dance
November 14, 2016

Sitting in a theater, the audience watches intensely as the dancers on stage leap and turn
with grace and beauty. They move with such passion and become one with the music. As the
piece comes to a close and the lights dim, the audience erupts in applause, standing on their feet,
still in a daze from what they just witnessed. The dancers on stage have been in training their
whole lives to perform for paying audiences, but what the audience saw is only a small
proportion of the hours of the performers preparation.
Performing for an audience is only one of the many purposes of dance. I believe that
dance is for everyone. The joy that dancing brings to us, as human beings, is unique and not
easily replaced. To understand and appreciate dance, it is important to look at how it affects the
audience, the choreographer, and the dancer.
What is it about dance that has such a great effect on observers? Dance has the ability to
create energy and make the audience feel emotions without touching them, and without saying a
word. This aesthetic experience is when the art work does something to you.1 Dances
choreographed for different purposes will have different effects on the audience. For example, a
ballet meant to be performed for a highly sophisticated, paying audience would be composed to
tell a story using traditional technique put to classical music, mesmerizing the audience with long
lines and gravity defying grace. On the contrary, a hip hop routine choreographed for a halftime
show at a sporting event would have a purpose of entertaining and exciting a large, rowdy
crowd.
1Bond, An Aesthetic Framework for Dance

2
When created for the purpose of pleasing the audience, entertainment often plays a large
role in not only how the dance is presented, but also the type of dance. The aesthetic values
vary from style to style2 so it is important that the choreographer recognizes what the objective
of performing a dance will be, so that the purpose and genre match, creating the most optimum
experience for everyone involved.
Dance is a little bit like reading. When we read, there are letters, then words; sentences,
then paragraphs. In dance, there are moves, then phrases; combinations, then dances. Just how
writers do not begin with the entire novel, choreographers do not begin with the entire dance.
The piece builds upon itself as more and more elements are brought in. What is unique about
dance is that it combines several artistic genres. Choreographers work with the music to create
accents and interest. Often live musicians are used to make completely new songs for the
dancers to move to. Professional artists with a trained eye in visual art are even brought in
occasionally when putting together a complete piece or show to work alongside lighting
designers, tech crews, director and choreographer to create an aesthetically pleasing visual that
brings the choreographers ideas to life. All these elements combined draw the audience in and
create that unique experience of something beautiful and meaningful.
The dancers that perform in front of audiences have usually been in training from a very
young age. The discipline, dedication, and hard work that it takes to become a dancer is
difficult, and not pure fun all of the time. There is an element of technique that is learned and
perfected, but there is also an element of passion that cannot often be taught. Innovator in the
2Ibd.

3
world of dance, Martha Graham, said, Nobody cares if you cant dance well. Just get up and
dance. Great dancers are great because of their passion.3 Young dancers must learn to love to
dance before the hard work comes along because the exhaustion, frustration, and even pain can
be discouraging enough for dancers to quit. Another reason dance is hard is that the reward is
the fulfillment of the dancers own personal desires and dreams. You have to love dancing to
stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on
walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single
fleeting moment when you feel alive.4 This fleeting moment is what dancers crave and live
for, the pure love of dance. The passion and feeling that a dancer has is what captivates the
audiences attention.
Dance is the hidden language of the soul.5 Dance is an expression of things that words
cannot describe. Other forms of communication do not produce the same result. Dancing gives
individuals with valuable things to say, a voice that can be heard directly from spirit to spirit.
The way dance can transport the audience and create these feelings that we do not have words
for is difficult to replicate in any other form.6 Dancers and choreographers alike must have an
appreciation and understanding of the human body, It [the body] is a miracle. And dance is a

3Martha Graham, goodreads.com

4Merce Cunningham, goodreads.com
5Martha Graham, goodreads.com
6Graham, I am a Dancer

4
celebration of that miracle.7 Dancers are constantly trying to push the boundaries and go beyond
the limits of the body that it is almost inhuman. However the beauty of dance is that the things
that meanings behind dances, some of the moves, the stories, or the settings, are very much
human and ordinary, that the audience can relate on a deeper level, as if the souls are
communicating in their own hidden language.
Graham said, The main thing, of course, always is the fact that there is only one of you
in the world.8 Each of us was born on this earth to learn and to grow, to form relationships with
others, and to experience happiness. We have developed talents and strengths that make us
unique, but also help us recognize others abilities. Being a member of the LDS faith, I believe
that these talents are gifts given to us by a loving God who wants us to develop them and use
them to serve others, to hold up your light that it may shine unto the world...9
Dance is for everyone. Every single person has danced before whether it is in the car
dancing to songs on the radio, at a party, or in a structured dance class. Dance is a celebration of
both individuality, and of unity as a human race. The friendships and comraderies that are
formed as a result of dance are often some of the strongest because of the intimate and
vulnerable nature of the art form. As choreographers, dancers, and observers come together, an
aesthetic experience of immense beauty is created, one that is not easily replicated.

7Ibd.
8Ibd.
9The Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 18:24

Bibliography

Bond, Chrystelle Trump. "An Aesthetic Framework for Dance." Journal of Physical Education,
Recreation, and Dance, March 1987.

Graham, Martha. "I Am A Dancer." First published in 1952.

"Quotes About Dance." Good Reads. Accessed November 14, 2016.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/dance.

Smith, Joseph, Jr. The Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City, UT: Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, 1981.