Expressing Emotion in the Arts

 

What would you rather see? Fourteen well executed pirouettes by an eight year old? A fixed grin
plastered on each rotation, on top of an athletic posture. Abdominals bulging at the seams.
Or a dancer moving to the music because they simply could not do anything else in that moment?
Picture Gene Kelly overcome with joyous infatuation as he springs across the floor. The subtle
breath you witness, as Ballerina Francesca Hayward as Juliet feels the skin of Romeo for the first
time.
To me- there is no comparison. There are certain performances which are etched on one’s heart as an audience member. The kind of displays which appear so authentic, you can practically adopt the emotive thoughts of each dancer. I believe such artistry is a tacit kind of knowledge which only the finest performers can carry. You may be able to teach a human to find their physical centre of alignment, but you can’t teach a human to feel.

This got me thinking as a teacher, about how to emphasise this message to my students. I admit I
am guilty of loosing perspective at times as I mull over the syllabus notes, determined to clarify
where the head should be facing on count 5. Not to deny the importance of physical precision in
training of course, but it’s all too easy to forget that dancing above anything else- is an art.
I fear that in recent times the American trend of elitist competitions has churned out prodigal
robots. Machines of technique who can master the moves when directed, but of whom are ‘dead’
behind the eyes. It seems that the prime aim of many performances is to impress, not to imprint.
Create envy rather than connection. Raise the game rather than share an unspoken experience.
So I question what it takes to inhabit this ability to touch an audience. 

Perhaps this kind of tacit knowledge is natural, or can it indeed be practiced? Is there a way to tap into our own emotions as
we dance? In other words, dance evolving FROM an emotional experience, rather than dance
evolving out of of technical instruction?

However, I must be honest with myself. Not only do I tend to prioritise technique in class as a
teacher- which is incredibly hypocritical! But I also fear I have lost that connection within myself. Over the years I became more focused with performing for the approval of others. The obsession with portraying the perfect mask not only detached my emotions from my movements in dance, but also in my every day life. How I felt- how I feel is numbed out by keeping busy, setting goals, making negative assumptions. Sometimes these are an antidote to the pain of feeling something.
From facing reality.

But creativity is a channel where one can express those words which cannot be spoken. And what
could be better than sharing that with others?
A secret language of the soul.

I will leave now with the inclusion of one of my favourite dances I have witnessed over the years. IfI ever feel that hollow numbness which incapacitates me, I know I can watch this piece- and feelsomething. I hope you feel something too.

‘Fix you’: So you think you can dance duet: Robert and Alisson

References

Lythgoe, N. (Director). (2012). Fix You (Contemporary)- Robert and Alisson (All Stars) [Video file].

USA: Fox. Retrieved January 31, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=do2vmsmdwlk.