Acting through Dance..

a process
Connecting the actor-self to the dancer-self, regardless of dramaturgical function or style

Awareness of centres in learning

 How are you learning the choreography? How is this affected by the way the choreography is being set? That is:
o When taught choreography through shapes, accents, terminology and counts; where you are learning from the mirror or
mimicry and the choreographer gives ‘corrections’ – is the choreography being learned in your head centre? Are your eyes and
perhaps ears more present in your experience than the rest of your body? Does your head centre feel more awake than the rest
of you? Are you feeling you are ‘concentrating’? are you ’getting it right’ rather than ‘feeling it’?
o When taught choreography through the mood, the feeling of the music or the style, the emotional connection to the
circumstance or the space or story; where the choreographer encourages you to improvise from the way you feel in the dance
or from the music or even the given circumstances - is the choreography being learned in your heart centre? Is the way it feels
to dance the dance more present than your awareness of form? Is your inner sense of the feeling for the music more present
than the external shapes and punctuation of the musical or choreographic phrasing?
o When taught choreography through objective and stakes; when the choreographer emphasises ‘hits’ or accents’ in relationship
to high stake stakes objectives; when the music has a strong pulse and the choreography has strong, direct qualities (Laban) is it
being learned in your will? Is your experience of power and of sending greater than your experience of feeling and receiving? Is
there more concern with the ‘emotion’ of those stakes than the clarity of the form?

The question here is what are you receiving? Not just the choreography itself, but the way it is given.

As with all ‘text’, choreography will require that you have form and inner life. Notice whether, in learning the choreography, you are oriented
more towards the outer or the inner.

Notice whether one of your centres is more engaged than the others in learning and revising choreography– you can and need to make
choices to balance yourself out so that the choreography is embodied fully.

Below is a staged process. I would think all stages should be completed in some form if you are to act through dance effectively. Some may
become instinctive over time and therefore require less overt practice. Bear in mind that you may not want to do every element listed within
each stage at all times – if you find one element form one of these stages unlocks everything then move on – don’t over-work the same
material. Remember too that your choices should always be informed by the function and needs of the dance within the context of the whole.

Investigation:

 Investigating the choreography as an individual, kinaesthetic experience of movement, form and gesture. Slow the tempo down if you
need to and feel your way through the movement. What do these shapes feel like? What do they suggest to you? What sensations
arise from them? What information about the story, style or intention of the dance can you receive by giving the body time to find out
what the choreography actually is? (NB in a dance call, this often can be done in the moments that the group is split and you are at the
side – your choice her is to revise in your head, or by feeling through your body. Most certainly this approach should be practiced out of
class frequently so that your body becomes sensitised to felt connection to choreography – this will speed up your ability to physically
‘get’ choreo in the moment of being given it, which you will later need for auditions)
 Are there references choreographically to popular dance styles? Is this dance that is more gestural or expressive of character? If so,
how do you experience character through the choreography?
 Moving to the music – without the choreography. What do you receive?

Exploration:

 What are the polarities that may have emerged from the first stage? Take these as a appoint of attention (POA) and dance the dance
again. There may be several sets of polarities that are useful to explore (ie expand/contract; freedom/release etc)
 What is it like to do this choreo with one of head./heart/will somewhat leading? Is there a leading centre for the dance?
 POA: apply directions (forward, back, up, down, expand, contract) to find out what that does. How might this help you with full
embodiment?
 POA: apply Laban effort actions (flick, dab, float, glide, slash, wring, press, punch) to find out what that does. What are the major effort
actions of the choreo? Can that help you with the accents and musicality?
 What are the ‘beats’ of the dance? These might be informed by music, choreo and song (if there is one). How would you title each beat
to capture what you’ve found in your explorations so far?
 Research part A –Read the libretto, listen to the whole score and any musical influences.
 Research part B - what is the world of the piece? What do you need to know about time and place? What sensory information is useful
 for you – images, sounds (ie other music of the time) smells, physical sensation. Do you make a playlist, pinterest board, scrapbook? How
do you gather your research materials artistically? Do you need to do a 10-min exercise to find time/place, outside working on the
choreo?

Testing and applying choices:

 Is there an objective? Convert this to psychological gesture and apply.

 If there’s not an objective, what is the super-action? Convert this to PG and apply.
 Beats - How would you title each beat to capture what you’ve found in your explorations so far? NB if you also sing during this dance, the
actions of the beat titles should marry the music, lyric and movement. (NB I certainly wouldn’t action every movement phrase – unless
you really feel that necessary – it seems like too much analysis to me but perhaps that depends on the piece?)
 How might you explore given circumstances as scenic atmosphere? (ie using an image, or a smell, or a quality that creates a ‘feeling of…’
like suspicion, celebration, etc)
 Explore character choices (centres, centres with qualities (eg flying heart, a bruise in your pelvis), weight/space/time, character super-
objective as PG, dominant action drives for your character (ie the actions they might most commonly play in the show), status in
relationship to others and to the space, ten-minute exercises to explore their personal given circumstances), imaginary costume. Test
them within the choreography – you have to be able to keep the form and style as required, so you can dial up or down the choices you
make. Test, discard, assimilate.
 Always come back to the central function of the dance. Are your choices telling the right story, or getting in the way? As with all elements
– text, song, dance – your process must serve the whole.