On The Role Of "communication" In The Performance Of Characters In Dance Performance

Human as social creature is always needed to interact with others in the daily life. The interaction among people is mainly through verbal words with limited amount of facial and physical gestures. While as in the dance performing arts world, we are missing all the media, but the physical body. The work is thoroughly structured upon dancers' corporeal body with the absence of verbal language. Dance, in my definition, is a physical art form, which has departed itself from oral communicating. Dancer speaks from his physicality and the different dynamics shapes the tone of the non-verbal communication, as if a single movement equals a single speaking word and a movement sequence stands just as a verbal sentence. By physically dialoging the real or abstract object of the dance drama with dancer's own body in the context of the performance, the audience is enabled to fully comprehend the content and implication of the work through the perspective of non-verbal communication. The �communication�, as I stressed above, is a way to register the dancer's presence for characterization in dance drama. It is a methodology that empowers dancer's ability to successfully forge the character as well as enriches audience's viewing experiences. The rational aspect of the communication leads the physical body to a genuine presentation of certain character. Physical movement communicates as a systematic language. Dancer is speaking the language in the frame of certain character to the idea of communicating with or within the character. This essay is inspired by stanislavsky's writing, Self Cultivation for Actor, Chapter 10 Communication. The dance drama Meaning Orphan as an example I adopted to further analyze and demonstrate the importance of communication in the characterization process and the methodology in the real practice. If it is anywhere appropriate for you to think of �communication� as a pathway to access the essence of characterization in dance drama and as a way to sharpen dancer's psychological understanding of a character, then I will achieving something.