Inscribing the body, exscribing space

Ivar Hagendoorn

pp. 69-78

in: Ivar Hagendoorn (ed), Dance and cognitive science, Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences 11 (1), 2012.

Abstrakt

The present paper briefly reviews recent advances in spatial cognition. A central tenet in spatial cognition is that spatial information is simultaneously encoded in multiple formats. It also appears that at the level of neural processing there is no clear distinction between the representation of space and the control of action. I will argue that these findings offer novel insight into the nature of dance and choreography and that the concepts used by cognitive neuroscientists to frame their findings can be fruitfully applied in a choreographic setting. Finally, I will speculate that both dancing oneself and watching dance may enhance one's experience of space.