I Matter

Abstract

Communication is a basic human necessity which in all its various forms has one common goal: expressing and deciphering ideas. Historically, verbal language has been the primary tool in this field. Education in recent years has taken a move towards more global approaches to learning/teaching. Within this context, more innovative and inclusive methods of communication need to be created. Attention to the human body and its communicative properties, such as research on “body language” and “Kinesics” has not been sufficient. Many venues in this domain remain undiscovered and researched. I believe the audience–performer connection is one of them. This paper will focus on the aspects of audience–performer connection and communication venues from the audience's perspective. The primary focus is based on the results of a survey and interviews which took place after a performer–audience interactive (15 performances) tilted I Matter. The performance took place in May 2010 in Beirut, Lebanon. This study will investigate the audience–performer connections through the analysis of the recorded responses (both the survey and focus group interviews) of the audience members.