Beyond the Visualization

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Visualization is one element of dance but what is beyond that?


The visualization of dance will always be the primary feature, however, the artistry in a performance requires a very different direction and approach, allowing the dancer to perform with true integrity to their emotions and expressions. I believe in the connection of the mind and body, the embodiment of dance that enables a more profound experience to take place. It is at this point; I reflect on my experiences of dance and respond to my initial training as a child, I feel that it was directed in a positivist mode, – ‘This is what is to be done and this is how to do it!’, following strictly to a syllabus aiming to ensure the success of an examination, within a fixed timescale to work to and did not allow further exploration of the subject. The ‘free’ movement section of the ballet exam was a very scary prospect as it was just that – ‘Free!’, we hadn’t been taught this! 

 Through my own experiences of teaching, I have certainly steered more in the direction of a non-positivist approach, understanding that everyone has different ways of learning and experiencing things and it’s my job as a teacher to embrace and develop this. I believe that we have a responsibility to steer and guide the learning process of those we teach so that a level of achievement will be felt by everyone in the class. However, how can the learning process go beyond this initial step and could this promote a development to how we can perceive dance? Looking at my own training as a professional student, the different approaches of my teachers and through my own teaching experiences, I have reflected and developed a curiosity to how dance is perceived. Are there benefits beyond the visualization of dance? Through what means has the experiences of dance shaped and developed the reactions and responses to the different dimensions of life?

 Following a change to my teaching circumstance, gave me the opportunity to move away from a more co-defied environment of teaching. This circumstance has allowed more freedom to explore and develop a curiosity in my interpretations of dance. Adapting to a different culture in dance, (in the USA), has been an opportunity to experience new challenges, observing the dancers’ and teachers and their approaches compared to my previous teaching practices. My comparisons have drawn me into how there is a strong sense of competitiveness amongst the dancers at every level. This has stirred my curiosity as to how dance can go beyond being better than the person stood next to you, how can we take all that we learn in a dance class beyond  the studio walls and what does this mean? 

Through this pandemic, we have had to explore different avenues for our dance experiences, where has that taken us and how? Can the invisible steer us into new dimensions of dance? As I have discovered on this journey of study, the realization of the knowledge we pertain is phenomenal and the exploration into developing new knowledge is endless! 

 I have been reading Dance and the Lived Body by Sondra Horton Fraleigh (1981), this book has provided me with an enlightenment to how dance is perceived and continues to be perceived through the development of dance derived from culture, history and experiences, creating a phenomenological view to how dance exists in our being.

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