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Wednesday, September 14, 2016

How do we separate our bodies and minds in dancing?

     Throughout written dance, I find that the mind and body separation are not often seen. The reader of a social dancing text cannot copy a body in motion. The reader only has words or certain notation symbols to create dance. However, dancers watch the movement in the teacher to gain the movement in their bodies. This phenomenon creates a broken history of movement, which is literally “lost in translation.”


            In present day practices, dancers often play and utilize the body-mind connection/disconnection. I often create solos with my brain completely shutdown. I have to allow my body to be the dominate in the solo. In texts, the reader will never be able to fully integrate the movement into the body in the exact intended form. With today’s technology, I hope that every dance maker and choreographer takes full advantage of a video camera, but even video cameras cannot fully realize the genius of movement. The contemporary dancer must hone their skill of witnessing bodies in motion to fully appreciate their body-mind. The dancer is the ultimate witness.

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