Hmmmm. I thought on this and here are a few ideas I've come up with, though deity knows I could be way off in left field here.

(1) Eye contact. Even if she prefers keeping a straight face, there is always making eye contact with members of the audience and doing SOMETHING to acknowledge them, whether it's a quirk of the eyebrow or a slight upturn of one corner of the mouth. It was pointed out to be that this is something Rachel Brice does - normally she's a fairly serious-faced dancer as well, but every now and then her eyes will shift from off in the distance to someone in the audience, and she smiles a little.

(2) Gestures. Even something as simple as tilting your hand towards a member of the audience can make them feel included.

(3) Directing the audience to look at a certain part of your body. Pointing at your hips when you're doing a particularly snappy move, or framing your head with your hands if you're doing an isolation there - that kinda thing.

Personally, I wouldn't call myself an old school dancer, but I'm definitely not the smiliest dancer around. I am always working on my own audience interaction, because it's one of my weak points. I find that I use my eyes the most; for example, I'll be looking down, or generally not paying attention to the audience, but suddenly my eyes will snap back to them and they know I know they're there. (Whew, tongue twister!) I'm also a fan of the eyebrow quirk.

Of course, what your teacher has in mind could be totally different. Was she just saying that you guys needed improvement, or was it more along the lines of, "we're going to be devoting a part of the class to working on audience interaction?"

"but she is somewhat old school, meaning no smiling, looking fairly serious, etc.,"

Hrm. I will leave the stoic-face being considered "old school" comment for another discussion...

But for interacting with the audience, even if your intended mood is doom n' gloom, you can project your intention to your audience, and connect with them on whatever level you want to. Cabaret dancers have performances which project emotions which are darker and moodier--that is not a function of tribal alone. Emotional projection, or evoking a particular message or feeling, is the job of any dancer across any style.

I find the best way to do this is through some acting techniques. For me, it's imagining a story within my dance--finding a time or place, real or imaginary, which stirs up that feeling in me, and then imagine that I am trying to share that story through my dance. Look people in the eye, let my face tell more than one emotion. Just having a "serious face" usually comes across as blank, angry, or worse. What do you want the audience to understand about your motivations and desires in the dance? Are you telling them you are angry? Then do that intentionally and with strong purpose.

Let's take the seeming favorite emotion of "tribal fusion": anger. When you are angry, does your face only ever look pissed or blank? Or does it go through a range of pain, sadness, confusion, elation even...? You need to practice being able to show that on your face and express it in your movement so your audience becomes a part of your experience, not just witnesses to it.

Does that get you started?

seeing as i've never performed, i'll just list the things that (as an audience member) make a performance feel more personal.

i think eye contact is the biggest one. something about having a dancer look you in the eye (or anyone, for that matter) gives you a whole new connection with them. eye contact is a fairly personal thing, and i've found that once a dancer makes eye contact with me i'm more likely to watch the performance more intently. i'm not sure exactly why...maybe its a subconscious thing. but anyway, i think eye contact is huge.

when the music gets to a steady, upbeat section, encourage the audience to clap. it makes us feel like we are encouraging you, especially if we don't know how to zaghareet. :)

if the piece/venue/mood allows it, get close to the audience. one of my instructors does a piece where she comes down off the stage (assuming the audience is accessible and the stage isn't 4 feet off the ground or something) and dances in and out of the rows of audience members. it REALLY gets their attention, and you can just feel all the energy in the room. then even when she goes back up on stage people can't look away because a connection has been made.

that's all i can think of for now. thanks for posting this thread though! i'll definitely come back and re-read it when i start performing, haha.

No smiling? I really don't like that. I mean, I can take "serious" from dancers when the dance/music demands it, if you see what I mean, but I much prefer it when people I'm watching spend at least some of the time looking like they are enjoying themselves!

<It's just that that is all I hear from my teacher/troupe director--don't smile--tribal dancers don't smile.>

Tribal dancers don't smile? Um...has she SEEN many tribal dancers? I'm sorry, but that idea is kind of ridiculous to me. No, it's not the big showgirl grin that you often see on straight-up cab dancers, but to say that tribal=no smiling is just silly.

Maybe she's trying to get at the sort of untouchable quality that many tribal dancers have...when I first saw Sharon Kihara and Jill Parker in 2000 I was stunned by the I'm-dancing-for-me-but-will-allow-you-to-watch quality to their dancing. But there was certainly smiling and interaction involved, even when it was sultry.

To answer your question though...well I can't know what your teacher is looking for specifically, but making eye contact is the first way. Don't be afraid to look at your audience. But honestly, I think you need to get her to be *VERY* clear about what she's looking for since interaction means different things to different people.

I smile! :-) See, that doesn't make me non tribal.....Hmmm. Anyway, I think interacting with the audience is great. I don't do it with slightly darker performances though. Right now I'm working on expressions with my face to tie the audience in with my dancing. I don't think smiling to a song and being happy goes with ALL pieces, but when I do a drum solo it ALWAYS makes me smile 'cause I LOVE doing them.

You can smile; maybe even bring someone up to dance with you. I think even the things you did in Cabaret could translate over with tribal. Eye contact makes A LOT of difference to an audience. So, even if you don’t smile giving/getting eye contact can make the performance more audience related.

Amber had some good ideas. The level and type of interaction will probably be different depending on whether you are doing a group or solo piece. In a solo, i.e. a restaurant, it can be a lot of fun to come up to a table and sortof...share a joke. Its funny how a certain facial expression or hip flick in time with the music can get a giggle out of people. Approaching a table and lip-sincing along with the music, dancing directly behind a man at the table so only the ladies can see you teasing behind his back, wiggling eyebrows, turning and looking over your shoulder at someone, backbending to make eye contact...so much fun things to do!

With a group number often you'll have to be more subtle--the eye contact and facial expressions. The key, I think, is to make the audience feel like you are communicating with them, and facial expressions create a human connection that people who know nothing about dance can appreciate.

That said....I am the WORST about all of these things! I know them but when I'm on stage, I zone out, I get a giddy grin and look down at the floor while I dance. I forget to dance with my face as well. Its something I need to work on too, so I'm in the same boat with you Bibia.

"all I hear from my teacher/troupe director--don't smile--tribal dancers don't smile"

Bibia, my dear - if it were me, I would chuck that piece of advice right out the nearest window, paste on a genuine smile and look like you are happy to be dancing!
Meh on not smiling!

No smiling!?!?!

That's just ridiculous.






Ha ha!
*shaking head, laughing with an ear-to-ear grin*