Dancers in the Audience?

As we approach another showcase, I have been inspired to share our reasoning behind keeping our dancers in the audience! We are quite unique in NZ, that we perform twice a year and at each show keep our dancers in the audience! While on the surface this might look like it just helps logistically with minimal backstage coordination or staffing requirements... it’s actually for a greater purpose. This is an intentional choice that we have made early on and strive to keep as it is an essential part of dance education to share, view, reflect on and respond to dancing. Being that our kaupapa surrounds facilitating connection through innovative, creative, and accessible dance it is important that we provide just as much viewing dance opportunities as we do performance opportunities. Viewing dance benefits our dancers in so many different ways! 

Watching dance makes us better people:

Our showcase performances are a place where children share their creations with their community, this includes their whanau and their peers. This is in contrast to say, performing for the purpose of spectacle, showing off your skills, or dancing to simply entertain an audience. Keeping our tamariki in the audience allows for a community feel where we enjoy some give and take. They generously share their talent, artistic ideas, work ethic, teamwork, and vulnerability (it’s a big deal to get up and perform) to help others learn! And in return their confidence builds in these areas and of course they too learn from what other classes share. Dancers get the opportunity to practice respectful audience skills. Additionally, they learn to interpret the meaning and message of each dance, honing their communicative artistry and the ability to consider others perspectives. Lastly, each class contributes to a greater whole as most of our show themes require each class to represent something, like a culture in a world dance showcase, or an ‘era’ in a decades show, for example. Our dancers take their responsibility seriously and appreciate the ability to see how it all comes together. And of course, younger children are so inspired by our older dancers, and our tuakana rise to the occasion as examples, helpers, and cheerleaders! 

Watching dance makes us better dancers:

Scientific evidence has shown that technique wise, watching dance fires up our brains the same way dancing ourselves does. If a dancer knows a movement or can identify the technique they are learning in what they view, their brain is literally practicing it that way as they watch… reinforcing the neuro-pathways. Just a simple example… if a junior dancer were to see a bigger dancer reaching up high on a tall eleve, next time in class that mental practice will benefit their own eleve! This is a powerful tool for our physical skill development. From a psychological perspective watching the show inspires our students and motivates them to keep them dancing, set personal goals, and achieve them. Several students have been inspired to try a new genre after seeing something they are drawn to at the show. And we hope that students will grow to appreciate all types of dance as they broaden their exposure to dance as a varied art form that represents many cultures and encompasses many techniques and purposes. 

Watching dance makes us better artists:

On the stage our dance elements shine! In the audience dancers can see the creative ways other classes have used their Body, the Space, and how they have played with Energy and Time! Within their own classes we learn to understand the elements, would have made choreographic choices (applied the elements), but it’s not the only ‘right’ way! To be able to analyze, compare and contrast choices made by other classes in relation to what they were trying to communicate is so important to develop artistry. This helps students evaluate their own work and fuel more ideas for the choreographic process in the future. It’s so fun to ask the dancers back in class what their favorite dance was and why, or what they thought the message of this dance or that dance was! They will often describe their reasoning through the language of dance, sharing that they liked a certain use of the elements. Costumes are also another favorite grabber for students, but this isn’t a bad thing, visual arts help portray meaning and are another essential consideration for our dancers who love to tell me what they thought. Likewise song choices show dancers various ways to interpret music. All of these discussions are so valuable in developing an artist! 

So, there you have it… Some awesome reasons to have our students in the audience! Of course there are some challenges, like fitting them in the audience and more importantly ensuring our dancers are warm (warm ups are included and classes typically miss a few items to warm up appropriately before they hit the stage) but for the most part this is a net positive for the reasons mentioned above! Hooray!