Like poetry, it's a kind of sleight of hand, taking one thing and transforming it into something quite different. That is, the audience actually performs, at a microscopic level, the gestures, jumps and falls of a dance along with the performers. It is with this direct, visceral and inevitable connection between the dancers and the audience, that each powerful dance experience begins. In other words, take it and run with it, and assume there are some real distances to be traveled. Go ahead and admire the bodies on a purely sensual and athletic level.
Some dances are primarily about that.
But always be ready for other levels of meaning and suggestion. Remember that you, the audience, play the role of final arbiter of meaning. Don't expect to be able to check out, switch channels aimlessly, or really be thinking about the popcorn in the microwave. YOU bring the dance to life, as much for the dancers and choreographers as for yourself. David Capps spent fifteen years dancing, teaching, and choreographing in New York City, before joining the University of Colorado Dance faculty in 1993.