The Role of the Audience

Myth #1: The Audience is There to Watch

Most dancers make the mistake of thinking the audience’s role is to watch the performance.

Not so.

The audience’s role is to go on an emotional journey with the dancer.

Not the use of the word “with” in that last sentence. The audience is there to be transported and awed; they want to feel and they want to let you take them into those feelings. They aren’t merely watching; they are invested in what you are bringing to the stage and they are eager to see you do well.

Myth #2: The Audience is the Enemy

It is really easy to fall into the habit of worrying that the audience won’t like you. This is a major issue for dancers dealing with stage fright. They start thinking that the audience is there to judge them, to critique them.

Not so.

The Reality of the Audience

In truth, the audience is on your side from the start. Sure, there will be the occasional oddballs causing problems, but they are rare. In the vast majority of situations – even including an audience made of dance critics – the audience is hoping that you dance beautifully and wants to do whatever they can to help you do so.

Think back for a second to a time when you’ve watched someone dancing who was uncomfortable. Didn’t your heart go out to them? Didn’t you wish more than anything that you could reassure them?

Human being are social creatures and it is god-awful uncomfortable to feel we are causing someone social pain. Audiences don’t want to be the source of that pain for you.

How to Use the Audience

The next time you pole in front of people, whether just for a friend or before a large group, get yourself in the mindset that the audience is there for you. That they are delighted to see you dance and are jumping at the chance to love what you do.

Lose the worry about them not liking you. Lose the fear that you have to be perfect. Let go of any beliefs standing in the way of your trust in the audience.

Reach out to them, and they will reach out to you.

A Prima Ballerina’s View on the Audience

This point was brought home beautifully in an interview I read this week on BalletBlog.net. I like to follow this blog – some of it applies to pole, some of it doesn’t, but it’s always helpful to me to hear the experiences of other dancers.

This week, they posted an interview with Irina Dvorovenko of the American Ballet Theater. It’s worth listening to. She talks about two key aspects of stage presence – one, how she fits the emotional aspects of dance into her preparation. The emotion after the moves, but not as an afterthought – as an essential part of her process and her performance.

Then she talks about her connection with the audience.

It’s a brief reference at around 4:55, but I find it very telling. She discusses how her connection with the audience gets her performance off to the right start – how that bond is something she feels from the beginning, when she first steps out on stage.

Rather than seeing the audience as something to be danced at, she reaches out emotionally to them, and trusts that they will be there for her.

It is within that connection that she begins her dance.

And it is within that connection that you should begin yours.

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Tags: Pole Dance, Pole Dancing

November 23, 2009 - Posted by PoleSkivvies 3 Comments
Filed under: Putting the Dance Back in Pole Dance