The world of dance is extremely complex. It’s not just about complicated steps, technique and endless rehearsals. Dance is an art (even when the required physical skills are the same or greater than an athlete) and therefore, there is one aspect that must be taken into account: artistic expression.

Dance tells stories of all different kinds: romantic, joyful or sad. It is not a show of physical prowess and abilities, because if that were the case, there would be no difference between this and a show of acrobats.

Charlie Chaplin was a delightful example of this. He could make an audience laugh, cry or feel any emotion without saying a single word. Most of the time, we tend to think that in order to make someone feel any emotion, we have to construct a complex and clever script in order to do so.

This is not entirely true. These are the things that the dancers must take into account when performing. The absence of words is to be overcome with artistic expression. That’s why, it is so important to not only work on your technique but also your artistry. Here are some helpful tips:

Create a story

Create a story as you work through the choreography. Think on how you would express a dialogue using your body expressions, so every moment can be as authentic as possible. When you adopt the internal monologue of a character, you also adopt and develop the distinctions and nuances that give honesty to the performance.

Remember that every gesture you do should feel spontaneous, as if you were doing it all for the first time.

In the case of abstract or secondary roles that don’t really have much information about their backgrounds, you can do your very own backstory for them, in order to understand why they do the things they do, their gestures and their feelings.

Don’t Exaggerate

It’s true that the theater is a big place, and that even the people in the furthest rows of seats should be able to understand the storyline. But remember that exaggerating facial expressions won’t do you any favors to make it more believable. Keep your face and gestures natural.

You don’t need to overly open your mouth in order to express surprise, for example. Let your arms and legs do the big motions.

As you can see, overthinking will make you appear stiff while onstage. An overly intense facial expression can (and will) distract the audience from the movements and other motions.

A very useful practice is for you to internalize everything throughout the rehearsals, so it becomes second nature to you. By the time you are on stage, it will all happen naturally, instead of having to think “it’s time to look sad/angry/happy”; which brings us to:

The Eyes

The eyes are an important part of relaying emotion and dancers should use them to connect with the audience and with other dancers. People like genuine emotions, and eye contact, especially with a dance partner is vital for developing such emotions.

The eyes are the window to the soul. The intention within them can be far stronger than any movement. It most likely seems like a very simple thing; so simple, that you might be asking the relevance of it. If you should watch some of the most memorable dance partnerships of history (i.e. Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev; Marius Petipa and Carlotta Grisi) you will see that eye contact is crucial for achieving a connection not only with your dance partner but with the audience.

Exercise your Emotions

Yes, I know this sounds kind of bizarre but it will help with your artistic expression. An excellent exercise is that of portraying emotions through movement only. This consists of having the class (or a fellow dancer) as an audience, while the dancer portrays an emotion with movements only (can be with or without music). The goal is for the audience to determine which emotion the dancer is trying to convey. This exercise may be uncomfortable for some at first, especially for those who are introverts, but this type of improv can be very beneficial when taking a performance from the studio onto the stage.

Artistic expression is one of the main pillars and components of dance, and it should not be underestimated or overlooked. Some argue that it is just as important as technique and should be practiced as such. In the end, what sets apart all dancers from one another is their own unique artistic expression.