More insight into the understanding of a movement
using Wittgenstein for dance education
pp. 675-686
in: Michael A. Peters, Jeff Stickney (eds), A companion to Wittgenstein on education, Berlin, Springer, 2017Abstract
The aim of this paper is to gain more insight into the understanding of a dance movement by making use of Ludwig Wittgenstein's philosophy. I will look at how a movement is taught and rehearsed until it is accomplished in order to shed light on what understanding a movement involves and will reflect on what takes place in the execution of a movement with expression and with understanding. In order to do so, I will examine how language is used in dance instruction. In addition, I will explain how Wittgenstein's concept of aspect seeing can be used in the dance studio for the development of the quality of a movement, since how a movement is performed is intimately connected to the aspects dancers perceive in it. Finally, I will place the execution of a movement against the background of the form of life of a culture, in order to develop the idea that a movement has the possibilities to reflect a whole culture. In the process, other concepts of Wittgenstein will arise in the discussion, such as those of aesthetic satisfaction or depth and surface grammar. At the same time, this article proposes dance practice as an ideal field of examples for the issues discussed by the later Wittgenstein.
