Dancerface, to me, can be defined in a number of ways. First of all there is not a lot of consensus, amongst audience and dancers alike, as to what the ideal facial expression, demeanor or "look" should be. Of course, certain styles or choreographers demand a certain face. Ballet traditionally uses a smile (with exceptions for more contemporay works), as does presentational jazz and tap. Modern/contemporary is certainly much more "open ended" , dependent on the style. Cunningham and release work tends to be expressionless, or better said, a <BR>neutral face. What do folks think? As I mentioned under another thread, appropriate facial expression or "acting" for dance is not usually "taught" too much, although it should be, as it's an integral part of performance, ie, the general public tends to look at faces and expression quite a bit. The only people I'm aware of who teach this in the US are: Pauline Koner, teaches "Performance Techniques" or something like that; Daniel Nagrin used to teach performance styles/techniqes, and ...I can't think of anyone else. Great teachers like Hanya Holm and Anna Sokolow (both deceased) taught it as an integral part of their rehearsal/teaching/choreographic process...<BR>Any thoughts from anyone???

That is interesting, Trina.<P>BTW, I once saw a production of Tarantella where the male dancer had the same smiling expression throughout the piece. I was told that was because he was busy breathing...

Question--how important IS the facial expression on a dancer. Some choreographers specify what they want as far as "face" or <BR>"acting", some never mention it!! How important is this in the overall performance or audience experience?