So often, dancers focus with such concentration on mastering technique that they tend to forget the essence of what dance is and why they are participating in it and consequently the result is mechanical looking dancers who are unable to reach out and touch an audience. Of course, learning and perfecting technique is vital but understanding that technique is simply the vehicle that we use to interpret the music and express our feelings is an important lesson for our students to learn. Technique should set us free to be able to concentrate on getting through to our audiences. There is nothing more exhilarating than to feel the audience in sync with you as a performer and to know that you were able, through your movement and expression to give them a moment of joy or sadness or whatever emotion you are trying to portray.
Students can very easily lose their way and forget why they dance and one of the problems with this is that they stop really enjoying the movement and just become totally stressed out and unhappy. I do different exercises in class with the participation of all the students. For instance, I may have half of the dancers do a combination coming across the floor while the other half watch whatever I need them to concentrate on. Perhaps it is the eyes or the expression on their faces. Do their eyes and faces match up with the music and the general feel of the movement? It is common for dancer's faces to tighten up when they are called upon to execute a step that they feel afraid or apprehensive of in some way. This very often happens during pirouettes or leaps or with steps that require delicate balance. So the dancer may be performing quite nicely until one of these steps comes into the picture and then the face just tightens up and the eyes begin to dart from side to side demonstrating a total lack of confidence on the part of the dancer. I have found that it is useful to all of the dancers to really watch each other as they can then see for themselves what exactly is happening and can then understand better how they need to apply the corrections that they are giving to others, to themselves. As I tell my dancers, I need to know how they are going to react onstage and I need to know if they are training themselves to be really aware of how their face and eyes are projecting to their audience. How often has a dancer said to me 'Oh, I didn't realize that I was doing that'! My answer to them is that you definitely need to know what your expressions look like and know that you are totally in control of what happens with your face and your eyes. I suggest to them that they stand in front of a mirror in the privacy of their home and study their faces, study their different expressions and then try to remember how they are feeling when they have great expressions on their faces so that they are then able to duplicate those feelings and expressions when they are onstage. Doing this in private and not in front of their friends makes it easier to actually look at themselves and make some progress facially without getting goofy!
Of course the more confident the dancer becomes the easier it is to control what is going on with their body and mind. Fear can certainly paralyze any dancer and so it is important to try to help our students to deal with fear and instead of letting it have a negative impact on their work let them understand that, if channeled correctly, it can be used as a positive in the form of adrenaline to give a power-packed performance. Coping skills are not prevalent in today's society and as I have found, one of the few ways that students can actually develop these skills is through dance. It is very satisfying to watch your students and see them really start to understand how to use these skills in their dancing, school and home life.
What tools can we, as teachers, use to help develop musicality in our students? First and foremost I would encourage my dancers to have all of the music that they are doing numbers to either on CD's or their IPod. Then just find time to listen to that music over and over until they know it like the back of their hand. Listen not only to the melody but also to the rhythm section and bass line. You would be surprised how many dancers only listen to the music superficially and consequently when they dance, miss out on a lot of the subtle nuances that are there for them to explore with their movement. Next they need to discover in each piece exactly where they are going to take the deeper breaths. Most dancers simply forget to take deep breaths and the result of that is that they become easily fatigued plus the movement and especially the port de bras tends to look small and tight instead of big and relaxed. As I like to say, 'Look for that poignant pause in your dance', of course some of them start to get a blank look in their eyes as they try to figure out what 'poignant' means, but once they get the gist of what I am telling them they really begin to improve their phrasing, which in turn makes their dancing so much more interesting by adding those special moments when you hold on to a movement before going on to the next series of steps. Additionally, by perfecting their musicality your students will be able to give their pieces more expression and dimension which will ultimately give them more success as dancers and performers.
One other tool I use in class is to present my students with three or four pieces of music, each one with a totally different flavor. Perhaps one classical, one Latin, a hip hop beat and something contemporary. I will let them listen to a short excerpt from each one and then give them 10 minutes to come up with some choreography that suits the vibe of the music. Dancers love to do this kind of exercise and it is always interesting to see what they come up with! This is easiest for dancers who are of an intermediate or advanced level obviously, as beginners do not have the technical ability or vocabulary to feel comfortable with putting themselves out there in front of their peers. I find that when I use this exercise from time to time in class I start to see a difference in their performance and even in their general class work. It is so important to let students know that every class should be a performance because not only are they constantly training themselves in the art of performance but it also makes the whole class experience so much more fun for everyone.
