The Engagement Pas de Trois: Relationships Between Choreographers and Dancers and Their Potential Impact on Audience Engagement

The largest challenge the dance field is facing is declining audiences (National Endowment of the Arts, 2012). Is it because choreographers do not consider audience’s needs in their creation process? How does a choreographer translate their vision to the dancers? This study explores the relationship between choreographers and dancers as it relates to the audience’s eventual experience of the piece, seeking to understand how choreographers approach audience engagement during the creation phases of their creative process. Data from Dance/USA’s Engaging Dance Audiences study has been utilized to provide an overview of the current dance audiences. Other existing literature provides insight on the ways choreographers create and how dancers are involved in the process. This study examined the creative process of four choreographers and eight dancers through individual interviews during a residency program in Israel. Through this research, it was found that the choreographer/ dancer relationship is a critical part of how choreographers think about engaging the audience. Themes explored include: 1. Choreographers are reliant on their dancers to portray their vision and use rehearsals as a time to create an emotional reaction to the choreography; 2. Choreographers are more interested in inspiring their audience to feel a specific way from watching their piece rather than wishing for them to understand the reasons for the movement; 3. Understanding the reasons for the movement is the dancer’s job. This research suggests that dancers, then, are pivotal to a choreographer’s intentions to engaging audiences. These findings focus on audience engagement at a creation level, instead of an additional organized activity. This study is done to supplement the work already being done by dance audience engagement programing and the research being completed by Dance/USA. From these findings, dance companies and administrators can adjust their audience engagement approaches to ensure that both choreographer’s intention for the audience and the dancers’ experience are considered in audience engagement initiatives.M.S., Arts Administration -- Drexel University, 201