Tips on How to Dance with Powerful Expression

Expression is one of those things that’s hard to define or even critique upon but adds life to any dance performance. How is expression achieved?

Expression means different things to different people. It can be subtle or it can be very obvious. In essence most dancing is done with music and the dance should be an expression of that music. If you’re playing a character in a production or show then it will be about expressing the way the character is feeling or what they may be thinking at that moment in time.

When learning a dance routine from a choreographer, bear in mind that the sequence of moves that they have come up with is an expression in and of itself. It’s an expression of what they feel when they hear the music. Or if you want to be abstract it’s how they may want to feel or how they remember feeling if it takes them to another time.

It is important to understand this when learning a routine so that you can dance it to its full expressive power. Sometimes the expression may be achieved through technique which will come from your training. But most of the time it’s something simple.

It may be in the way the moves progress. The moves may be very smooth to express certain feelings or very sharp for others. Sometimes expression will be achieved by a graceful glance upwards or by a change posture or facial expression.

In order to really understand the expression sought by the choreographer it sometimes takes something besides dancing skills. In fact it may just be about paying enough attention when they are speaking and teaching so you can understand the effect they are trying to depict.

At other times you’ll just need to take a step back and watch the choreographer so that you can see sections of routines performed in their entirety. Watching the choreographer dance and listening to what they have to say about it offers the biggest clues into what they are looking to express.

In essence expression arises from feelings so it’s as much about understanding feelings as it is about dancing. Next time you’re dancing at your best, feeling like you’re on top of the world take a second and look at how it is being made possible and what need to express is driving you. This’ll give you some insight into expression.