The Mind and the Body

The end of the last blog got me thinking about how little the body is considered within Western culture. Part of this most likely stems from Cartesian dualism, beginning with Decartes and continuing through the present day.

Dualism is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as “the condition of being double,” with “the view that the world consists of or is explicable as two fundamental entities.” In other words, dualism operates on the assumption that everything has a polar opposite. Every whole has two opposing parts. Masculine, feminine; rational, emotional: the idea of complimentary (and polarized) opposites is pervasive Western society and culture. 

In the dance world, the concept of dualism has resulted the metaphor that the body is a tool or instrument subject to the mind where the body is inferior to the mind. The mind dictates, the body does. Mind over matter. People in Western society often “push” (with their mind) through tiredness, sickness, and emotional distress, ignoring that these are all signals from the body of what it might need. If ignored for long enough, the body will eventually rebel by breaking down.

When injury or sickness does occur, an attitude of indifference to the mental and emotional ramifications the bodily injury might have on the mind are ignored. Your ankle may be sprained, but you’re fine. A bodily injury (depending on the severity) should not affect your mind—your rationality, the “essence” of your being.  In other words, “you” are not your body, “you” are your mind.

The dualism of body and mind can even result in a sense of accomplishment when we are able to “overcome” the body using the mind. For example, as a dancer I would push myself to dance when my body clearly needed rest. I remember I insisted on going to class one day when I was sick. I danced through the entire class and returned home to find that my temperature was 102 and that I had strep throat. Even once I realized I was sick, I did not admonish myself, instead I congratulated myself on my dedication. I was proud of myself for “pushing” through.

What would society be like if we were able to overcome this polarized duality? What would it mean for how we deal with physical pain?

Perhaps, there could be more acceptance of physical pain being connected to the mind and emotional duress connected to the physical. Perhaps it will become more common to treat a person as a whole rather than as separate parts.

It seems like quite a long road, however. This way of being is completely integrated into our society and culture so that  we don’t even notice it or think twice about it. Dualism is ingrained in our speech, our thought, our movement, our value system. It will take a lot of conscious effort and intent to change, and, of course, a lot of time.

Dance: So What's the Point?

This past year I have temporarily moved from New York City back to my small hometown in North Carolina. I will spare you the details of the challenges and difficulties adjusting to the pace and culture of life here. Instead, I'd like to address what I've learned about artists and dancers specifically while surrounded by a culture who lacks exposure to dance. From the difficulty of my transition I have come to understand the value of dance within a community in a way that was just words before I moved from New York. I know those of us working in the arts are always hearing the bullet points of why the arts or dance are important. But I have come to understand my value as a dancer in a deeper way.

Since my move, I've been stuck with the eternal question, "Why does living here feel so different for me as a dancer?" I've struggled with so many questions in terms of my value and identity while in my hometown.

Am I a dancer any longer without a community that values my profession?
What makes me or ever made me a dancer in the first place?
What makes me fundamentally different than the rest of my current community of non-dancers?
What is it exactly that I feel is lacking in terms of support that I would get in a community of artists or dancers?

These questions have lead me to powerful realizations about dance and what it provides within a community. Much of what I've learned can also be provided by other art forms, but there is something about using the body in such an articulate way where words are not a requirement that makes dance so unique. The last blog post is about lack of appreciation of dance. This blog is about what values go unseen by most in terms of what dance brings to our society.

Dance brings creativity. Ok so we already know that. Yes? But dance brings a very specific type of creative thinking. For many who aren't artists, the status quot of how society and culture work is static and fully accepted as reality. But this isn't the case for dancers. The impulse for me as a dancer is to create, not only something that fills my soul but that expresses that potential to each audience member. In each and every dance, dancers create new worlds that did not exist before the dance was brought into existence. And we do this in a fully physical way. We actually do something instead of just thinking or talking about it. Dancers are attentive to questions of perfection, specificity, problem-solving, and clear intention that those who are on procedural auto-pilot at their jobs rarely experience. We see possibilities, not just static structures and protocol. We don't accept current realities as final realities. We just create new ones, more fulfilling ones, better ones for ourselves. And we share them with our audiences in such a way that we open them to those possibilities as well.

Because of this expertise in creating evocative worlds of clear intent and problem resolution, it is a part of our lives as well. It is incredibly difficult for me to hear a phrase I hear so much as of late, "But that's just the way things are." As a dancer who creates new worlds, I see this as the death of artistic and societal potential. . . the death of infinite possibilities that have the power to improve the status quot. It is unfathomable to me that people who have little experience creating and problem-solving see an issue and have difficulties not only resolving the issue but even articulating or understanding that it can be solved. I've been in meetings where nothing was accomplished and nothing was discussed in a generative, progressive way. People just stated their opinions either about the topic or about someone else's opinion of the topic. And then everyone went home. That's not in the make-up of a dancer. We identify, articulate, frame the problem or question, and create ways to solve that problem or question. Then (and here's the kicker) we actually solve the problem or question all while still acknowledging there are an infinite amount of alternative ways to approach and resolve that same problem or question. We do this in an inclusive way, where other perspectives are creatively integrated into the whole of the solutions. What we often miss in our dance communities of support, is that the rest of the world outside of arts and dance are not as able to accomplish this phenomena. They have limited experience in this process.

Another powerful thing that we often take for granted is that dance brings awareness and integration. What I mean by that is we as dancers have an intimate and infinitely knowledgeable relationship with our bodies that most do not have. We know how to communicate with others using our bodies and also how to communicate with our own bodies. A small and seemingly inconsequential example is that moment that I would have so often in New York of being in an elevator or crowded train noticing how unaware the general public is of the use of space and how they fill space. It may seem small and inconsequential at first, until you see the frustration that bubbles to the surface from people who feel that others are being inconsiderate. These small moments have escalated to arguments and even physical altercations. Now when you think of a society who is aware of their personal space and how they use space in public, how small is it really when we know that these situations can escalate to such a degree?

This knowledge lends itself to understanding the complexities of not only our bodies but of other concepts. We know that just because we are kicking our leg that this doesn't mean that other things aren't happening simultaneously. We understand the layers of bodily movement. We understand there is emotional connection, physical chain reactions to the rest of the body, purpose or intent, bodily history, strength and coordination, and relationships to others that color that leg kicking up in the air. Nothing is ever just one non-dynamic event. Whether we are speaking about our bodies or about other things, we understand that there is always emotional connection, relationship to the whole, purpose or intent, personal history, skills and training, and relationships to others that color any moment in our lives.

Consider thinking for a moment about your body as a life partner who has been physically present with you for every single moment of your life. Then think about not ever really attending to that partner even though it's there, working with you and relating to you at every moment. I can't imagine the suffering of those who don't have an attentive relationship to their bodies. I can't imagine what life would be like to mindlessly or superficially bring my body along for the ride throughout my life, and then think of it as "failing" me when it refuses to comply with my expectations of it. What an awful partnership to suffer through considering how much of our lives are spent with this "partner."

Because we are aware of our bodies, we are able to pull from the knowledge we have of learning from our bodies and communicating through and with our bodies that most don't have the opportunity to experience. Many people who are not used to working with their bodies see their bodies as an environment of failure. They have not attended to how they move their bodies or how they treat their bodies. And when the body begins to fail them in terms of what it looks like, how it feels, or what it's able to do, they see their bodies as a site of failure only to be corrected or ignored. But for the dancer, this site is a rich site of new experiences. Whether failure in the body is seen as a deeply emotional experience, a positive challenge, a learning process, or a new discovery about ourselves, it is never a site simply to be discarded, despised, rejected, or given up on.

The relationship anyone has with their body is ultimately a quality of life issue. It can make functioning physically, expressing ourselves emotionally, and valuing ourselves either a positive experience or an incredibly difficult experience. And as dancers who encourage others to move or value movement, we are the wielders of a powerful gift, the gift of improving the quality of life for ourselves, our communities, and the greater society.

Devaluation of Dance

Recently, I've been thinking about the value or non-value of dance as an art form in our culture. Dance as an art form tends to be the least recognized and valued, and as a result the least supported. Dancers are considered less intelligent and dance itself is considered to be something that does not have merit and is an intellectual void.

In a conversation with a friend about my experience in the dance program at Virginia Commonwealth University, and in my experiences applying for a masters program, she was stunned that getting a BFA or an MFA in dance might be difficult and require more than just flinging ourselves around all day—that we actually write papers, create work, and have to think and justify what we do.

Why is this specifically? Is it because our culture society sprang largely from a protestant religion that believed that the body was something to be hidden and that movement (other than for daily activities) lead to damnation? (I have an image of a poster from the late 1800s that describes all of the horrible things that happen if someone participates in dance, including divorce, adultery, and damnation.)

Or does it have more to do with the value of cognitive intelligence which is placed far above experiential intelligence that comes with the scientific method in our culture?

What do you think?

~RLS