Performance Skills: Physical, Technical and Expressive

What a dancer brings to the stage

A dance only comes alive when a dancer performs it well, and that takes three kinds of skill working together. Physical skills are what the body can do, such as strength, flexibility, control and stamina. Technical skills are how accurately the dancer performs the movement, such as timing, rhythm and moving memory. Expressive skills are how the dancer reaches the audience, such as projection, focus and facial expression. Every one of these can be developed by any dancer through practice. This module covers the three kinds of performance skill, what each includes, how they work together, and how to improve them.

Performance skill words

Learn these terms before the skills are grouped. They name what a dancer needs to perform well.

Match each skill to its type

Physical against expressive skills

Two of the three skill types answer very different questions about a performance. A strong dancer needs both.

Which kind of skill is it?

A dancer holds a long balance without wobbling. Which kind of performance skill is this mainly showing?

• A physical skill
• An expressive skill
• Only a technical skill
• Not a skill at all

Bringing the three together

A great performance needs all three kinds of skill at once, and the best answers show how they combine. The physical skills let the dancer do the movement at all; the technical skills make it accurate and in time; the expressive skills make it mean something to the audience. A dancer who is strong and accurate but blank will not move an audience, and one who is expressive but cannot control the movement will not convince either. When you write about a performance, name the skill, name its type, and say what it adds. Physical, technical and expressive, working together: that is what a complete dancer brings.

Pick the physical skills

Select every skill that is a physical performance skill.

• Strength
• Flexibility
• Stamina
• Projection to the audience
• Facial expression

Order how to build a skill

Put the steps a dancer takes to improve a performance skill in a sensible order.

• Identify the skill that needs to improve
• Practise it slowly and correctly
• Build up strength or accuracy over time
• Apply it within the dance
• Perform it with expression for an audience

Complete the performance facts

Skills about what the body can do are _____ skills. Skills about performing the movement accurately are _____ skills. Skills about reaching the audience are _____ skills. Sending energy out to the audience is called _____.

One solo, three skill types

Picture a dancer performing a short solo about a storm. The physical skills come first: the strength to leap, the flexibility to stretch wide, and the stamina to keep the energy up to the end. The technical skills make it accurate: each move lands in time with the music, the rhythm is precise, and the dancer remembers the sequence exactly. The expressive skills make it matter: the dancer projects energy to the back of the room, focuses their gaze, and lets their face and body carry the wildness of the storm. Take away any one of the three and the solo weakens. All three together turn steps into a performance that an audience feels. That is why they are learned as a set.

Tap the expressive skills

Tap the TWO skills that are expressive performance skills.

• projection to the audience
• focus and facial expression
• physical strength
• stamina

The performance skills run

Answer each one correctly to keep your lives. Choose the type of skill described.

Classify each skill

Read each situation and choose the type of performance skill.

• A dancer keeps their energy high right to the end of a long, fast piece. Which skill is this?
• A dancer performs every count exactly in time with the music. Which skill is this?
• A dancer makes the whole room feel the sadness of the piece through their face and energy. Which skill is this?

Build a point about performing

Choose the word for each gap to complete one clear point about performance skills.

Explain performance skills in dance

A friend thinks dancing well is only about being fit and flexible. Using what you have learned, explain the skills a dancer needs to perform well.

• Explain what physical skills are
• Explain what technical skills are
• Explain what expressive skills are
• Explain how the three types work together in a performance