I Think Therefore I Dance | Claire Wijnands | TEDxYouth@Bologna
Dancer Miranda describes dance as a form of embodied knowledge, arguing that its power lies in translating internal bodily experiences into understandable emotions for an audience. She demonstrates this through exercises responding to varied music tempos and by explaining the concept of "mental architecture"—the ability to envision an object and translate its properties into unique, varied body movements. The ultimate call is for the audience to start viewing dance in this non-traditional, multifaceted way.
## Theses & Positions
- Dance should be regarded as a completely new form of knowledge, not just an art form or a sport.
- Dance enables *kinesthetic awareness*, which is described as linking to our inherent sense of existing bodily experience in space.
- All human emotions, even those experienced through reading, are fundamentally *kinesthetic* in nature, requiring the body to be experienced.
- The essence of dance is the *transition* from analyzing bodily possibilities to communicating an emotion through those movements.
- The process of creating choreography involves working with "mental architecture"—visualizing and embodying an object's properties (shape, color, material, scale) through movement.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Kinesthetic awareness:** Linking to our own sense of being existing on a bodily level; an intrinsic knowledge of moving our bodies across space.
- **Embodied knowledge:** The concept that dance embodies, defined as the *transition* from analyzing one's body to communicating an emotion out of it.
- **Mental architecture:** The process of visualizing an object (e.g., a rubber ball) and translating its properties (shape, color, material, relative size) into a corresponding series of unique movements.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Responding to Music Styles:** Reacting physically to different music tempos (e.g., jazzy/slow vs. heavy/fast) causes noticeable and differing bodily responses and explorations.
- **Demonstrating Embodiment:** To illustrate mental architecture, the speaker traces the surface of an object (a ball) in the air with a hand to show the basic concept, and then explores variations by changing parameters (speed, slipperiness) using the body instead.
- **Choreography Formation:** A choreography forms by asking questions about movement variations (speed, tempo, direction) based on analyzing a conceptual object, rather than relying on memory.
- **Translating Emotion:** A dancer takes experiences from their body and translates them into basic emotions that an audience can understand, without using written words.
## Timeline & Sequence
- Audience reflection on emotions experienced while reading a book, noting the feeling is initially visceral but experienced mentally upon finishing.
- Demonstration sequence:
1. Reacting to a jazzy melody.
2. Reacting to a heavy/fast melody.
3. Discussing the *need* to make the audience consider which music style evokes a stronger emotion.
4. Describing witnessing performances at the NDT, specifically the show *School of Thought*.
## Named Entities
- **NDT (New York City's renowned dance company)** — Mentioned as the speaker's favorite smart dance company.
- **Media** — Mentioned as the means by which the speaker watched performances while in Italy.
- **Miranda** — The speaker (implied name).
## Numbers & Data
- The speaker mentions having watched **3** amazing performances from the NDT in Italy.
- Comparison of movement analysis: Simple comparison between a "fluid" movement starting from the neck versus a "static" one.
## Examples & Cases
- **Book Reading Emotion:** Experiencing feelings like "touched," "gripped," "scared," or "saddened" while reading, which are noted to be kinesthetic in nature.
- **Music Reaction Demonstration:** The speaker demonstrates moving differently when reacting to a "jazzy melody and a slow tempo" versus one with a "heavier melody and a fast tempo."
- **The NDT Performance (School of Thought):** The speaker recalls being so close to the dancers she could hear their "breathing," "panting," or the "sound of their touch," and seeing sweat.
- **Mental Architecture Demonstration (Ball):**
- Initial tracing of a ball's surface in the air.
- Exploring the ball's material/slippiness by using speed in movement.
- Conceptual variations involving placing the body relative to the object (e.g., elbow position in relation to the object).
- **Observed Performance Venues:** Seen dancers on "rotating platforms," "fields of chalk," and "treadmills."
## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Rubber ball:** Used as the primary object for the mental architecture demonstration.
- **Stage:** The literal space where the speaker stood to talk, contrasting with the small, physical stage of the NDT.
## References Cited
- **The NDT (New York City's renowned dance company)** — The professional company whose work inspires the speaker.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The argument against memory-based choreography: The speaker asserts that choreography is *not* based on memory.
- The perceived assumption: The audience generally assumes dance is about performing "in a beautiful way" or by a "big group of dancers," which the speaker argues misses the essence.
## Methodology
- **Comparative Analysis:** Comparing bodily responses to distinct auditory stimuli (music genres).
- **Experiential Inquiry (Mental Architecture):** The core method, asking the audience to visualize a concept object and then translate its quantifiable properties (size, material, position) into varied bodily actions.
- **Demonstration:** Physically modeling the conceptual process using the body as the tool.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- The audience should start to view dance in the way that encourages experimentation and explores the diversity of ways of knowing the world.
- The speaker urges the audience to "start thinking about dance in this unusual way."
## Implications & Consequences
- Dance develops creativity to a "whole new level."
- It encourages choreographers to experiment, which provides the audience with "unusual performances in return."
## Verbatim Moments
- *"I want people to try and regard it as something completely new as a form of knowledge."*
- *"Kinesthetic awareness is first of all one of the domains of human intelligence but it is linking us to our own sense of being existing on a bodily level."*
- *"The beauty of all of this is that there is no written word involved not at all."*
- *"I'm always eager to explore different body parts and if I'm not exploring different body parts I'm exploring the same body part but moving that in different more unusual ways than before."*
- *"What dancer is one thing dancers do is they work with this idea called mental architecture."*
- *"How does the color do to your body? Think about the material it has?"*
- *"This is what I wanted to share with you with this idea of mental architecture which is extremely extremely important in dance."*
- *"It's about this transition that dancers make from being able to analyze ways they can move their body and..."*
- *"I hope when I leave the stage I want some of you to start dancing yourself."*