Embodied Perception In Dance

In dance, the tenets of embodied cognition may explain how choreographers invent ‘dancely’ movements. An example problem is to imagine what it is like to have an rope connected to your shoulder. The rope is pulled and released. To solve this problem a dancer works with a partner some distance away. That partner is notionally holding the rope and pulling it. The dancer then generates mental imagery associated with the movement of the rope. Most of this imagery will be about the somatic or kinesthetic feelings of being pulled and released. The pattern of somatic or kinesthetic priming of these images created serves to bias the next somatic or kinesthetic images in the dancer’s imagination. Batson and Wilson are of the opinion that “researching

The art of learning dance is imitative which all for acute observation and attention. Perceptual learning is according to Gibson “an increase of the ability to extract information from the environment, as a result of experience and practice with stimulation coming from it” (1979: 3). According to the Gestalt theories of perception stated by Benjamin B. Lahey, “some of the fundamental ways in which the eye and brain organize visual sensation were described about 75 years ago by Gestalt psychologists in their pioneering writings on perception.” He further claims that “the following are the so-called five principles of perception: Figure ground, Continuity, Proximity, Similarity, and Closure” (2004: 144). Reactions to what is seen despite these principles are

Gibson’s theory of cognition, he emphasizes the aspect of perception which further touches down on the subject of ‘affordances’. Perceptible affordances in this sense is the ability to ascribe certain qualities to perceived objects. As mentioned earlier, mental images plays a major role in the creation of movements, therefore, when dance movements are created, dancers sometimes liken these images to objects they have come in contact with or specific movements they may have performed at some point as a prompt to remember these movements or create a quick link to them in order to enhance assimilation. Perception is a means to action, action a means to perception, and the brain has evolved to transform information between the two modalities. By this, it is easy to recreate or replicate movements based on the functionalities of the object being perceived. Gaver is of the opinion that “when affordances are perceptible, they offer a link between perception and action; hidden and false affordances lead to mistakes.” (1991:79). Images created in choreographic pieces are subjective to the interpretation of the dancer; however, the intention of the choreographer is ultimate and dominant. He often links such images to the things that surround him to be able to interpret it, accord some meaning to it based on its functionality recreate with this judgment in