A philosophical understanding of the essence and identity of the art of dance from the point of view of a dancer

Abstract

It is not easy to capture the essence of dance through philosophy as both these subjects resist being narrowed down to just one thing. One cannot simply begin to understand what dance is by its definition, as it would be identical to someone trying to understand what love is when they have never experienced or felt it, or explaining colour to someone who has been colour blind since birth. Other than this, dance has occurred throughout history in various contexts-contexts that are religious, political, social, expressive and even healing. Moreover, this is what continues to make dance so versatile up to this day. Due to this, the philosophy of dance is an ever-growing topic when considering the many branches of philosophy dance can connect to. Possibly the most obvious one would be the branch of aesthetics. However, this is not the only branch that throws light on the nature of dance. Dance is able to connect to other branches such as metaphysics, which will try to answer the question of ‘why do we dance’ by giving an account of motion or change. Dance can also be analysed ethically, when taking into consideration dancers and dances from different cultures, races, etc. Lastly, epistemology is also a useful tool when it comes to how one perceives a dance or a dancer. This can be done by discussing dance alongside the techniques of choreography. In short, these discussions, will aim at creating a clearer picture of the art of dance from the point of view of the performer.