In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Performance invokes transformation. You have the support of light, sound, and the audience’s attention. Your own singular focus, plus the adrenaline input from the “risk” factor, enhance the “presence” factor—the immediacy of dancing. There may be only a few moments that achieve this high in dancing. During some performances, rare ones, the whole evening flows; but many times, only pieces of pieces attain their full glow. It’s like coloring in a page—the goal is to get as much of the image fully colored as possible. The whole is a gift, a prayer, and grace—like insight. You can’t will it, but you can hold the intention. Logging the hours and commitment necessary to be a performer is another step, another stage, in dancing. Some people are drawn to the performative dimension, and others are not. All relationships to movement investigation are necessary and useful in the world. There’s no hierarchy, but there is a distinction. We’re only as interested in you as you are in yourself. —Tamar Rogoff Take responsibility for yourself, and attend to practicalities. Honor the body so you can be resilient and present onstage. Eat well. Have an appropriate meal around three hours before rehearsal or performance so food can be out of the stomach and moving through the intestines, where it fuels the body. This allows maximum blood flow for brain and muscles. Relying on caffeine, cigarettes, sugar, or similar short-term adrenaline-evoking highs throws off balance and limits your choices onstage. Avoid alcohol, drugs, and stressful emotional states; they take too long to clear the system. Monitor your rest, noticing levels of exhaustion so you can build toward performance rather than peak and crash before the audience ever arrives. Sometimes a short twenty-minute nap, taken a few hours before rehearsal or performance, can refresh your energy levels and dilute tendencies toward stage fright. And assume nothing. When you arrive at the theater, attend to specifics right away, so you can move on to more focused work. Create your own ritualized sequence: check costumes, props, stage crossings , and related details; then forget them and attend to the body. Performing The great gift of an audience is that they require something of you. —John Elder, Nature and Creativity class Day 24 Day 24: Performing • 181 Dancing and Performing In the early years, some of our company members made extra money as “go-go” dancers in a strip club in Park City, Utah. On occasion we would all participate, honing performance skills. Through the hours of entertaining, we learned how to keep a viewer’s attention or deflect it. When performing onstage in our modern dance works, this training served. Dancing with artists who understand “entertainment ,” I learned that it doesn’t matter who is “right” onstage. The magic is in capturing the attention and imagination of the viewers. No hesitant dancing! 182 • collaborating When you extend and expand, you are not only stretching to, you are also stretching from . . . extending outward and penetrating inward. —B. K. S. Iyengar1 Personal warm-up is idiosyncratic; begin by establishing inner connection. You know your habits. To stay sourced inwardly, what parts need special attention? Which energy pathways require opening? How do you get the mind-body fully present in the moment? Attending to performance habits involves relaxing unnecessarily tight places, such as tension in the hips or jaw. Take time to rest on the floor, releasing your weight throughout your structure; then free (undulate) the spine, and breathe fully. Optimal functioning of the autonomic nervous system involves cuing your interoceptors (sensory nerves in the organs and blood vessels) for safety and ease— locating yourself. Compose the body, the space around the body, and between bodies—the whole room. —Terry Creach Engaging place and people, extend your eyes, energies, and awareness to the specifics of the theater or performance space. Be sure to include the audience area. Avoiding that dimension in warm-ups creates an energy block at the front of the stage. Move through all the corners and edges of the room. Expand your awareness to encompass the whole space. Connect with community: open your skin and attention to other dancers and the imaginary audience. Let your energies flow as you see and are seen. Stay grounded in your interactions. Include the stage crew and technical collaborators in your awareness. Notice what delights you; cultivate generosity in every cell. —Heidi Henderson Leading performance warm-up involves building a chemical elixir. You...

Share