Expressing joy and sadness
A feeling changes the whole body. You can tell joy and sadness from far away:
| Joy | Sadness | |
|---|---|---|
| Level | High, jumps | Low, sinks |
| Shape | Open, wide | Closed, curled |
| Speed | Quick, bouncy | Slow, heavy |
| Head | Up | Down |
Neither feeling is "good" or "bad" in dance. A sad dance can be very beautiful.
Gesture and facial expression
A gesture is a meaningful move of the hands or arms, such as open hands to welcome or hands on the chest for love or sorrow.
Facial expression is what the face shows: eyes, brows and mouth. Smile and lifted brows say joy. A down-turned mouth and sloping brows say sadness. Dancers keep the face alive and look where the story is.
Gesture and face should agree with the body. If the body is sad but the face smiles, the audience gets confused.
Audience empathy
Empathy means feeling what another person feels. When a dancer is truly into the feeling, the audience starts to feel it too. They may smile, sigh or tear up.
To help this: be clear (one feeling at a time), be honest (really feel it), project to the back row and use the face and eyes.
Try it
At home: in front of a mirror, show joy for 8 counts and sadness for 8 counts. Change only the hands, then only the face, then the whole body. Which change is easiest to read? Ask a family member to guess your feeling.
In the 3D: in the last step choose Sadness and push the energy to 10. Predict what you will see, then check.
Key formulas and definitions
- Joy = high + open + quick + head up
- Sadness = low + closed + slow + head down
- Message = body + hands + face; Empathy = audience feels the same feeling
Worked examples
1. A dancer sinks low, closes the arms and moves slowly with head down. Which feeling is shown?
Sadness: low, closed, slow and head down.
2. How could you show "welcome" with only the hands?
Open both hands wide and turn the palms up and out. This open gesture says welcome.
3. The dancer's body shows joy but the face shows a frown. What is the problem?
Body and face disagree, so the audience gets a mixed message. Both should show joy.
4. In a dance, 5 out of 7 audience hearts are lit. What fraction of the audience is moved?
5/7 of the audience.
Common mistakes
- Thinking only the face shows emotion. The whole body does.
- Showing two feelings at once, so the message is muddy.
- Faking the feeling without really feeling it. Audiences can tell.
- Thinking sad dance must be ugly or boring. Sadness can be graceful.