Recently 4dancers Contributor Lizzie Leopold said something that made me think….she talked about including program notes for the audience in effort to help them understand more about what was going on through the dance performance.
Brilliant. I wish more people would do this.
Back when I was growing up, ballet had this air of mystery surrounding it. It was almost as if the audience shouldn’t be allowed up close and personal. As if the magic would somehow be lost. I’m not the first person to point this out–but it was definitely a different atmosphere, and a very closed one. Still, it was set against a backdrop of story ballets, making it comfortable for the audience in terms of watching the dance performances and understanding the story.
These days, with Modern dance and other Contemporary dance performances, it is easy to leave the audience in the dark–but is it necessary–or even wise to do so? [Read more…]