Yesterday’s question of the day was about emoting – a seemingly very divisive issue amongst the dance community. I say seemingly, because the most popular response to the question of emoting was far and away that as long as it adds to the performance, audiences are fine with reading emotes. So if your stance has always been that audience hate emoting, perhaps a recheck of that assumption is in order.
It’s been quite interesting to ask these questions and see the responses. I try to predict what the most popular response will be, and so far, I’m 0 for 4. -.- On the other hand, I am very happy to see that audiences are focused on entertainment value rather than big stages and lavish sets. I’m also happy to hear that most audiences don’t mind emotes, because I, too, feel they can add so much to a performance.
Today’s question is about whether there is an audience preference for solo performers or for group performances.
Don’t forget to send your friends over to vote!
Enjoy your Friday and catch a dance show or two this weekend. 😀
A Kat and A Mouse 
I dislike ‘dancers’ at a venue. I prefer to go to a venue that expects the crowd to be active and involved, not watching a stage. I’ve been very frustrated over the last few years in SL to see the clubs all start adding a stage and a social norm evolve where everyone faces one direction and watches.
There was a time, not that long ago – when a venue had a danceball and the entire audience used it, and the DJ / Host were not visibly separate, but engaged and moving around the venue talking to people in local chat about whatever the topic of the day happened to be. SL “clubs” felt much more alive in those days – even if some of those other people were bots. Those bots, had more “life” to them than the people in many venues today.
“Dancing” in SL is not like in real-life. Its just activating a premade animation onto a 3D cartoon object. So I find its performance value to be zero. But if you put it all into the hands of the crowd – it can be a socializing tool.
In terms of art, it can also have value in a machinema, but that is a different topic.
For me, if there are ‘dance performers’, it feels as if I’m being pushed out of the experience, and being expected to just be an observer – and I’m not observing a person performing, but a computer routine. Put that very same animation into a ‘dance ball’ we can all click on and enjoy moving about the venue and engaging each other with – and then I will feel I have been made welcome to be a part of the encounter.
An interesting perspective. I’m curious – do you attend dance performances (or theatre plays, etc.) in RL? At a ballet, for instance, you sit in the audience and observe the dancers, it’s not typically an ‘interactive’ performance. As for the performance being a ‘computer routine,’ I see your point. However, there is a person behind the computer, who designed the routine in a particular way to evoke a feeling or a reaction. In RL, does that mean you would consider digital art (created with a computer) not really art?
I think there are different venues for different reasons – there are clubs for dancing and socializing (which is what I think you are talking about), and then are dance ‘theaters’ (which often bill themselves as ‘clubs,’ so maybe that’s an issue?) which offer performances for others to watch (and sometimes to participate).
I’m not likely to target audience for you. You somehow ended up in my SL feed and I read your poll. 🙂
My perspective I hope, illustrates a different angle on things than your audience likely has.
As for real life non-participatory dance performances, I don’t attend them. But I have seen them. Its still different for me because that is a person doing the motions individually with their own individual interpretation to it.
NPR this morning covering the retirement of a major ballet dancer – and a dancer is what she was. Even if she danced someone else’s choreography. She was an individual performer.
A dance in SL is a coded preset always identically reproduced animation cycle on a repeat timer.
– I don’t see that as something for performance. But I do enjoy SL dancing for its socializing value.
Probably not my ‘target’ audience – but lots of things overlap. 🙂 And hearing someone else’s perspective is always helpful. Thanks for the comment!