Dance is an extroverted art in which the dancer communicates his or her realizations and inspirations to the audience, expressing emotions through movement and allowing the audience to gain new experiences and perceptions through it.
Dance, like other arts, is an extroverted activity in that it expects a response, meaning that the dancer creates a piece with the intention of communicating his or her realizations to the audience and sharing the inspiration experienced. In this way, dance becomes more than just a series of movements, but a deeper artistic expression. Dancers use their bodies as tools to convey emotions that cannot be expressed in words, and in this process, artistic communication is achieved. Dance is an art that transcends the limitations of language and expresses our common emotions and experiences in a visual language. This is one of the reasons why dance is loved all over the world, across cultural and language barriers.
How does this communication happen? On stage, dancers show the audience the movements of their bodies that they have created. The movements must be imbued with emotional meaning and life experience. However, life experiences are not necessarily realistically recreated. For example, when a dancer is expressing the pain of a breakup, he doesn’t exactly show a hand waving, tears, or hugging an imaginary object. Instead, he shows it in the form of an abstracted gesture. These abstracted gestures stimulate the audience’s imagination and allow for different interpretations based on their own experiences. In addition, the dancer’s physical expression can reflect the complexity of emotions, conveying more than just sadness. This is part of the unique appeal of dance.
The dancer expects the audience to move beyond being a mere spectator and become a participant in the movement in front of them. They may seem to be sitting quietly in a chair, but they will be dancing together, using all their muscle groups in an integrated way. The hope is that the emotional connection that initially moved the dancer will be awakened in the audience. When the audience expresses and shares their own emotions along with the dancer’s movements, dance is truly a communicative art. This interaction makes each moment of dance more special and creates an experience that unites the audience and the dancer.
However, a dancer’s goal shouldn’t just be to stimulate the audience’s emotions. He strives to change the audience’s existing feelings about an object, to expand their experience, and to free them from their habitual reactions, so that they can feel a new perception and experience of reality. To achieve these goals, dancers use mostly movement, but they also use set design, music, and other materials that can create an emotional connection with the audience. Lighting and costumes are also important elements, adding depth to the message the dancer is trying to convey. The dancer’s costume is so closely intertwined with the movement that it sometimes feels like an extension of it, and is an important part of the overall aesthetic of the dance.
How should the audience respond to these expectations and efforts of the dancer? When encountering a work of art, most audiences have expectations of what they think the work will be like based on past aesthetic experiences, knowledge, and information about the artist and the work. However, in the case of dance, these expectations can often lead to a poor experience. This is because the audience is not able to immerse themselves in the dancer’s movement. Some viewers may only be interested in one aspect of a dance, such as the shapes that the dancer’s arm movements create or the music that accompanies them. Of course, in this case, the audience is still using their senses, such as sight or hearing, but they are not seeing the dance in its entirety.
So, how can we see dance fully? In a word, by becoming a dancer yourself. In this regard, it’s worth referring to a short story about a farmer. The farmer lost his horse, and as a result, he was able to find it. If we use the same method as this farmer, the audience will surely be able to find what the dancer is trying to say. Only by approaching dance in this way will we be able to properly perceive it as an art form. It also requires continuous learning and understanding of how to look at dance. You can deepen your appreciation of dance by studying the intentions of the dancer and the context of the work, as well as by exposing yourself to a wide variety of dance works. It’s also important to study the history of dance and experience different styles of dance. This gives audiences the opportunity to deepen their understanding and enjoyment of dance.
Dance is an art form that is closely connected to our daily lives. Each movement that a dancer expresses contains human nature, emotions, and life philosophy. Therefore, watching dance is more than just watching, it is also a process of reflecting on and understanding our lives. When audiences engage with dance through this process, it becomes more than just an artistic expression; it becomes a part of their lives. It also gives them the opportunity to explore their own inner world and discover new emotions. This is one of the unique things that distinguishes dance from other art forms. Dance is more than just movement; it is born at the intersection of life and art.
