Philosophy and dance conversing. When philosophy enlightens dance as concept of being and experience of the divine

Abstract

In this essay we have two forms of wisdom conversing, on one hand the philosopher’s and on the other the dancer’s. Two wisdoms only apparently distant. The one, expressed through the philosophical language typical of the early Maurice Merleau-Porty; the other gained through the practice of classical ballet typical of the French dancer Mireille Nègre. The reflections and the research paths carried out by the main characters of this virtual conversation revolve around a fascinating and mysterious thematic knot: the body of Jesus of Nazareth and the body of the dancer express the same experience, they trace a circular movement that joins human and divine, sky and earth, visible and invisible. Both authors recognize that the human body is capable of God. If the incarnation of Jesus stands for the implementation of a horizontal relationship between man and God, dance can be then experienced as a real and ineffable encounter with the absolute that mysteriously unfolds in the dancing body.