Abstract:
This document describes the investigative process of the dancer–
audience relationship through the exploration of emotions as movements. I
choreographed an eleven minute and forty seconds (11:40) dance piece called
Bereave to the music composed by Ariel Ramirez and sung by Ane Brun,
“Alfonsina y el mar” (“Alfonsina and the Sea”), and Gert Anklam’s “The Sound of
Time.” The underlying story of my choreography involved the experiences of an
individual letting go of ideas, material possessions, situations, circumstances, or
people that no longer support one’s journey toward the future.
It was my choreographic intention to create a dance piece anchored in
images inspired by music that elicited emotions from the dancers. It was my
expectation that this process would prompt an emotional connection between the
dancers and the audience. I conducted a survey and collected the audience’s feedback after the
inaugural performance of Bereave on December 9, 2013, in an intimate dance
studio transformed into a performance space at George Mason University’s De
Laski Performing Arts Building’s room 301. I was eager to know at what point(s)
the audience felt most moved, touched, and/or inspired.
Just as I wanted to learn from the audience, I also wanted to learn from
the dancers, so I conducted a post-performance interview/dialogue with the
dancers to document their experiences.
In the process of reviewing all the gathered data, I learned that the
invigorating and gratifying phenomenon of the dancer–audience relationship
comes from an unquantifiable source.
