Thinking the Body and Dance with Jean-Luc Nancy

Abstract

Jean-Luc Nancy’s philosophical approach, so deeply rooted in the body as the place where the single plural being is better displayed, gives us the possibility to reflect upon dance as category, modality and foundation of our existence. Dance, in fact, like "touching", the central theme of his thought, is "moving", and represents in itself the manifestation of the ontological body, the only sense of existence. The body, together with the soul which gives it form, is res extensa, and its dancing-touch is offered as the possibility to abandon ourselves to existence in its radical sense, and thus, while opening our gaze to the plural singularity of the existent, restores our sense of freedom in return.