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Improvisational Artistry in Live Dance Performance as Embodied and Extended Agency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2014

Aili Bresnahan
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Abstract

This article provides an account of improvisational artistry in live dance performance that construes the contribution of the dance performer as a kind of agency. Andy Clark's theory of the embodied and extended mind is used in order to consider how this account is supported by research on how a thinking-while-doing person navigates the world. I claim here that while a dance performer's improvisational artistry does include embodied and extended features that occur outside of the brain and nervous system, that this can be construed as “agency” rather than “thought.” Further I claim that trained and individual style accounts for how this agency acquires its artistic nature. This account thus contributes to the philosophy of improvisation in dance performance in a way that includes motor as well as cognized intentions.

Keywords

Agencyartistryembodied mindextended mindimprovisationstyleperformance
Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 46 , Issue 1 , April 2014 , pp. 85 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 2014 

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