An idea would be, "Stage dancer = Actor + Musician + Athlete"
They are all highly technical professions, like it or not, and have methods for improvement developed in each discipline.
Following are some notes and thoughts to be refined later. They are piling up from recent reading.
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Acting is not dependent on an actor's "sense" or "talent", but on a body of techniques and skills. The techniques and skills are the basis of consistency in his performance.
Weak actor stands out in an ensemble. Director wants to avoid such a situation. (it's the same for dancing).
Stage acting is a part of team efforts to create a stage. Producers and directors will choose someone with skills and techniques who is easier to work with to create the stage (or movie/dance/show).
Actors express human emotions and present stories with their body and voice. Their training methods are designed to develop technical skills for expressive body and voice. Since voice skills are closely connected to breathing and its control, acting skills involve high degree of body control skills (much like dancers, but dancers' skills focus more on external appearance).
Actors are also required to interpret the script, which is a hard brain work (you need good brain to act). Dancers are also required to interpret the music and design/choreograph the dance, which is also a hard brain work. There are many technical advice for actors that can be immediately useful to stage dancers.
Dancers express, but main narration is done by the music. Or rather, dancers are a part of the music. Dancers are like instruments of the music, presenting interpretation of the music in a physical form.
Training methods for dancers are designed to acquire expressive body. Technical skills are built around the purpose of acquiring expressive body.
Dancers and athletes share this point in common; the main tool-instrument is the body. Since bodies operate in a similar manner for sports and for dance, there are many methodologies that work for both.
Understanding a dance move in your head can come quickly. Usually body understands it much slower. The gap is something you need to deal with. With a certain type of training, you can shorten the body's understanding time.
Dancers and musicians are close, because both serve the music. The training methods have a lot in common.
Musicians practice hours every day to be able to play decent music not hindered by the lack of skills. Dancers would require same degree of training to build basic skills. "Make it look easy" takes serious practice hours. It is common among all technical professions including dancing.
Good news is that you don't have to tell the audience how many hours you practiced. They will only see results, then they may guess the process.
