Importance Of Psychology In Dance

EMBODIED COGNITION IN DANCE AND CHOREOGRAPHY

Abstract

Humans are generally equipped with a capacity for cognitive function at birth, meaning that each person is capable of learning or remembering a certain amount of information. This paper, therefore, joins in the growing discussion on the mental process involved in the creation, learning and execution of dance movements. This process is referred to as the cognitive process which borders on the basic phenomena of cognition: perception, attention, memory and imagination. This interdisciplinary research establishes the place of psychology in dance scholarship.

Keywords: Dance, Choreography, Cognition, Perception, Memory and Cognitive Psychology

Introduction

Dance as an art of the theatre

Judith L. Hanna as quoted by Kraus is of the opinion that “dance is a whole complex of communication symbols, a vehicle for conceptualization. It may be a paralanguage, a semiotic system, like articulate speech, made up of signifiers that refer to things other than themselves” (1991:17). These body languages can be referred to as gestures. Gestures in reference to dance connotes that the art in discussion can only communicate through the extensive use of the body to create a language that can be understood. Hanna further says that “obviously, dance may not communicate in the same way to everyone. Within a culture, differential understanding of symbols may be based on, and sometimes be exclusive to the dancer’s age, sex, association, political status, groups and so on” (1991:18). This emphasizes the fact that how gestures are perceived depends on the factors mentioned above and in the circumstances they

Philosopher E. Trias cited by Fiorini asserts that the creative psyche, the drive to create is hinged on certain modes. The modes, he says are “(1) what one wishes to be; (2) what one has to be; (3) what one is; and (4) what one can be.”(1995:11). These, naturally, are the core of human existence. This suggests that in the creation of dance movements, the choreographer relies heavily on the experience he has amassed over time to be able to create movement that will communicate exactly what is intended. Experience in this sense is based on fantasy or desire - what one wishes to be, artistic/societal expectation - what one has to be, status - what one is and possibilities: what one can be. The process of thinking through what is to be created and how to recreate can be simply referred to as the cognitive