Interview 5

Name: Nathan Veng

Nick-name: BBoy Ngage

Age: 16

Sight:

“My sight becomes a secondary sense when I dance. In a battle against someone I try to keep eye contact with them to intimidate them. But this normally results in me focusing less on the moves I do. Which results in me bailing.”

Hear:

“when I dance with music, the music is the only thing I can hear. The beat of the music seems to dictate my body. When I move without music a lot more sounds are revealed to me. All of the scratches of stones beneath my feet, the sound of my hair whipping against my head as I move and the sound of the cheers when I pull of a move that’s quite demanding. The cheers is a large factor that keeps my momentum strong as I dance.”

Touch:

“when I dance I like to wear baggy clothing. If my clothing is loose it helps me to loosen up as a dancer as well. It makes me feel more fluid and makes me feel like I appear more fluid to others. When I wear tight clothing I feel like each of my movements can be examined more closely and that makes me feel uncomfortable in a way”

Smell:

“body odour is probably the only thing I can smell if I focus on what I can smell while I’m dancing.”

Taste:

“If I bail right onto my face then it is probably likely that I’ll get a taste of what ever surface I’m dancing on. And speaking from experience, the taste of concrete small stones and dirt is not appealing at all.”

Interview 4

Name: Sophie Barnett 

Nick-name: Soph

Age: 19

Sight:

“When I dance it is usually on stage. There is a lot I take in without realising. The contrast between the white of my tights and the black paint of the stage. The bright lights and the faint images of faces in the crowd. The mist of the dry ice and the fluid and smooth movement of the other swans that move around on the stage.”

Touch:

“The tightness of my attire I feel keeps me in line. It’s like the tights help me to stay strict with my movements. I can feel my toes being suffocated within my shoes, especially when I’m on Pointe. I can feel the heat of the lights on my face and the I can feel all of the eyes of the audience watching me”

Hear:

“other than the music that is playing, everything is silent. The audience, the stage and the dancers. Even back stage the silence is scary. It’s like the nerves of the dancers has run off with their voices.”

Taste:

“before going on stage I get nervous, when I get nervous my mouth dries up. This is all I can taste as I am backstage in the wings. If there is dry ice on stage while I am dancing, the taste of that will normally stay in my mouth for the duration of my routine.”

Smell:

“The smell of new tights is a quite distinctive smell that enjoyed. The smell of new shoes and the dry and poisonous smell or hair spray and make up are quite distinctive smells that, on the other hand, I didn’t enjoy”

Interview 3

Name: Eparaima Williams

Nick-name: Ep/ BBoy Havok

Age: 22

Sight:

“My sight is normally quite un-focused. Plus most of my moves are done upside down so I’m always viewing the world from a different perspective. My hair is also quite long so I can keep my sense of direction by which way my hair is landing on my face”

Touch:

“my sense of touch is very engaged when I do hand spins. I feel everything about the surface I’m moving on with my hands. I feel every tiny little stone that’s digging into my palm or every groove in the rubber mat. I feel every little shift of weight before and error  and I fall onto the hard cold concrete or the soft hot rubber”

Hear: 

“When I dance I think I block out most of the sounds of the music I just hear all of the internal noise generated by my body. Every crack of my joints and every pull of my hair on the ground is amplified to me”

Taste:

“if I’m extra puffed I can normally taste the sweat dripping down my face. The salty taste of it keeps me reminded of the atmosphere of the street and the gritty type dancing that comes with that environment”

Smell:

“My face is very close to the ground in most of my moves. If I couldn't see or touch the surface I was on I’d be able to tell what it is just by the smell of it. The smell of the wet moss on the concrete in the morning or the smell of the dry sand and the concrete later on in the day. I take in all of the smells while I dance.”

Interview 2

Name: Sam Howard

Nick-name: Air-T

Age: 17

Sight:

“Most of my moves are flipping moves that I do I mid air. This means that my sight is always being thrown around. The world just seems to flip it’s self around me when I dance. I see a lot form an upside down perspective which makes me loose my sense of direction a lot”

Hear:

“Although there is music playing the sounds I hear most is the clean thudding when I land a move right. If it’s not landed right then there is much more to the sound. Especially if it’s on concrete”

Touch:  

“when I flip I normally use my hands to spring off. I need to grip the surface I’m on in order to get the most power into my move. I feel the hot rubber on the mat here (Civic Square) but otherwise it could be anything from hard cold concrete to slippery marble”

Smell:

“when I dance I don’t think I smell anything. Maybe it’s not that though, maybe it’s that I’m so focused on my power moves that my senses like smell are left behind.”

Taste:

“I don’t really taste anything while I dance, unless it’s the blood from a cut open lip due to landing a move and biting down on it.”

Interview 1

Name: Ahmed Abdulaziz

Nick-name: BBoy BBC

Age: 23

Sight:

“When I freestyle my vision becomes very unfocused. It feels like my entire body is using up all of my energy and there is a shortage of this energy to my vision. It is only when I am learning moves off somebody or learning a set or routine that it is required for me to be fully focused”

Hear:

“all I hear is the beat. When I dance I fall into a sort of trance where I block out all other sounds. It is like my main focus becomes the beat of the music and my sense of sight is replaced with my sense of hearing”

Touch:

“When I dance I like to feel the air that brushes past my skin. I also like to feel the weight of my clothing follow my around while I dance. Both of these remind myself of the momentum, speed and power I have while I move."

Taste:

“I can taste the level of my fitness. After a while of dancing I cant taste how tired and puffed I am. The air I breath tastes recycled and old.”

Smell:

“When I perform power moves I can smell the soft hot smell of the rubber mat. I can smell the body odour of myself and the other dancers around me. I can smell the fear of the opposing dancer and I feed of it” 

Sensory Ethnography Overview

I have chosen to target the everyday sensory experience of dance for five individual people. I want to find five different perspectives and experiences of the same activity so I will be interviewing some dancers with questions about the five senses to uncover some of the hidden things we may not think about while we dance. 

Bathroom Visit