Dance in the light of neuroscience : sharing the experience of Deborah Hay's performance : her work and reflections

Abstract

This thesis presents a perspective on dance performance, as a shared experience between a dancer and a spectator, rooted in the neurological mechanism of the mirror neurons. It begins with definitions of theatrical dance in terms of imitation, expression and form, reaching towards the perspective on dance as shared experience. As such, dance is being confronted with the recent theories concerning the mirror neuron mechanism and other neuroscientific inquiries into the subject. Problems related to neuroscience of dance and the turn in dance studies aiming at ecological validity of the experiments are discussed. Through the example of the work of an experimental dance artist Deborah Hay, the pursuits of pre-intellectual excitement in watching dance are being followed, as well as her reflection on dance. Consequently, the discourse on the relation between language and movement is unfolded as being an extension of a phenomenon of sharing dance. What is shared is not however necessarily defined by 'the same' and therefore the notion of alterity is introduced into the inquiry of the performance situation. 'In the last part of this work, some speculations on the nature of the joint venture with Deborah Hay and her dancers are presented.