Dance as a Means of Communication
by Samantha Donsky, Communications Intern
The word “communication” today is as common as the word “the.” Thanks to social media and the internet, everyone is able to communicate via written and spoken word with people from all corners of our planet. But communication can be achieved without the use of speeches, or essays posted on Facebook. One way to convey emotions, messages, themes and ideas is the physical act of dance.
Dance has served as a form of communication since the dawn of time. It is suggested that before the development of the written word, dance was an important part of passing stories down from one generation to another. According to the Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council, in Africa, select tribes used dance to impart cultural morals, convey repressed emotions and motivate community members to act, whether it be fighting in a war or harvesting crops.
In today’s society, dance continues to provide emotional catharsis and inspire action in its participants and spectators. This cannot be better exemplified than in works created by Jessica Lang Dance. JLD is “is a New York City based dance company whose mission is to present and perform dance works around the world that immerse global audiences in the beauty of movement and music.”
Since founding the dance group in 2011, Artistic Director and founder Jessica Lang has worked to engage and empower people through translating moments into movement. Her dancers are able to convey emotions like catharsis or grief and themes like religious acceptance, all while dazzling audience members with the beauty of their dance. In “Glow,” the dancers embody carefree camaraderie as they perform in asynchronous groups and pairs. They give off the feeling of playfulness as they become the physical embodiment of light. They suggest that even adults can celebrate like children in the light of the world!
In their piece “A Thousand Yard Stare,” the company of dancers use movement and props to tell the story of soldiers and their struggles both on and off the battlefield. They recreate moments soldiers face during war through the rigid and exact movements on stage and then explode in movement to portray the different experiences and memories that soldiers block out through the thousand-yard stare. Audience members easily get swept up in the emotion and action being performed for them on stage.
One could argue that movement is the best form of communication, because it can be interpreted in many different ways. People can connect with choreography in ways that are personal to them, while universally, the audience experiences the same feelings and themes that are conveyed through the beautiful movement.
