Distinguishing between Intended and Perceived Emotions in a 'Dance-based' Physical Theatre Performance

Abstract

Dance-based physical theatre as a sub-strand of Physical Theatre, is positioned as a continuum of dance. Dance-based physical theatre performers are encouraged to embrace their personal uniqueness and previous dance training, when creating and expressing movement. The intended meaning embedded in dance-based physical theatre is often misunderstood or not grasped by audience members. This study incorporates emotion into a dance-based physical theatre performance to determine whether audience members are able to perceive the emotions as intended by the choreographer and portrayed by the performer. The thesis statement of this study is that both the meaning as well as the intent of a physical theatre performance can be enhanced through the incorporation and deliberate application of emotion. The investigative question of this study is: How does an audience perceive and distinguish the intended emotions in a dance-based physical theatre performance? The aim of this study is to determine whether a South African audience can perceive the intended emotions portrayed in a dance-based physical theatre performance.

This study suggests that there are two primary scholarly discourses relating to how human beings perceive emotions in themselves and in others. One discourse regards emotion as humanly congruent, suggesting that humans are able to express and perceive emotions such as fear, anger, disgust, happiness, sadness and surprise, regardless of cultural and personal differences (Roether et al. 2009:1); the second discourse regards emotion as personally unique, suggesting that cultural differences, as well as personal circumstances and unique bodily and facial features play a role in how emotion is expressed and perceived (Masuda et al. 2008:378). These two discourses on emotion are considered throughout the study. It is further suggested that emotion is perceived through ‘four domains’ namely: facial expressions; body attitude and orientation; breathing patterns; as well as voice and sounds that are produced.

This study draws on qualitative, quantitative and practice-based research approaches in order to answer the investigative question. Elements of accepted scholarly approaches, such as: Effector Patterns (EP) drawing on the work of Bloch (2015) and Bond (2017); Laban Movement Studies (LMS) drawing from the Effort Elements and Factors, as well as the Shape category (Wahl 2019; Bradley 2009); and Lessac Kinesensics (LK) drawing from the body NRG’s (Lessac 2019; Lessac & Kinghorn 2014) are integrated to formulate ‘three strategies’ to facilitate the embodiment of three emotions: anger, fear and disgust. These three emotions are portrayed randomly throughout the dance-based physical theatre performance choreographed specifically for this study. Combining the two opposed discourses concerning emotion turned out to be valuable.

This study concludes that emotion in performance comprises both humanly congruent and personally unique aspects. A significant number of audience members perceived emotion through both a humanly congruent and a personally unique lens. The audience recognised the different emotions portrayed in the performance. The final conclusion of this study was based on the analysis of the raw data collected by the Mobile Application that was specifically designed for this study. It was deduced from the analysed data that 51% of the audience members perceived more than 50% of the emotions that were portrayed in the performance. The conclusion my thus be drawn that emotion is both humanly congruent and personally unique, and that the intent of a dance-based physical theatre performance can possibly be enhanced by embracing and applying emotion.