It’s almost time for PlayhouseSquare’s annual Dance Showcase, a free event highlighting Northeast Ohio’s amazing professional dance companies. To get you ready, we’ve prepared a series of blog posts on the beautiful art form that is dance.
Dance is movement through time and space, and movement is everywhere: in a flock of geese flying in perfect formation, in clouds colliding in the sky, in children at play, in pedestrians crossing a busy street, in athletes who bounce, throw or hit a ball.
Choreographers transform movement into concert dance by setting it to music, organizing it into steps and phrases and putting it onstage with costumes, lights and sets. Their ideas come from nature, people, animals, books, music, poetry, machines. Their choreography tells stories, evokes emotions, visualizes music, paints living pictures, showcases technical skill. The dancers’ bodies are highly trained instruments of expression that communicate the choreographer’s intent.
When choreography tells a story, the dancers play characters. The soloist is a principal character who commands attention even when the stage is filled with other dancers. When two people dance together, they become partners spelling out their relationship through movement. When several dancers form a group, they mesh into an ensemble representing a community or concept.
When choreography does not tell a story, the dancers express emotion, energy, lyricism, rhythm, virtuosity or a succession of shapes. Costumes, music, titles and program notes give clues to the choreographer’s intent. But audience members are free to let their imaginations fly and decide for themselves what the choreography means.
To find out more about appreciating dance, please visit playhousesquare.org/danceedu.
Written by Wilma Salisbury, Plain Dealer dance critic (retired)
Tags: appreciating dance, dance, PlayhouseSquare
