I "poteri" del corpo che danza. Spunti filosofici sulla dimensione simbolica della danza a partire da Susanne Langer e Daniel Stern

Simona Donato

doi:10.6092/issn.2036-1599/11811

Auteurs

Simona Donato La Sapienza University, Rome

Simona Donato is a PhD candidate in Philosophy (Aesthetics) at La Sapienza University of Rome. Her main research interest is how to express our bodily nature through the practice of dance and by reflecting on it. Simona holds a Degree in Philosophy (110 cum laude) at the La Sapienza University; a Master in contemporary philosophy at the University of Coimbra and a Master in Dance-counseling at ASPIC of Rome. She has been a teacher of Philosophy and History at High School (Lyceum) since 1999/2000. Furthermore, Simona has a vast experience in classical and contemporary dance, dance therapy, yoga and other western and eastern corporeal disciplines. She is currently attending the professional course of Creative Movement (Garcia-Plevin Method).

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2036-1599/11811

Résumé

In Feeling and Form (1953) philosopher Susanne K. Langer elaborated one of the most interesting philosophical reflections on the symbolic nature of dance. The present article further elaborates on these reflections and integrates them into the analyses by Daniel Stern and Rudolf von Laban. The final aim is understanding how the symbolic character of dance can be concretely articulated through body, movement and space. The main argument of the essay is that dance is able to express awareness of life as a whole. Originally, the ecological dimension (being part of nature), the political dimension (belonging to a community) and the ecstatic dimension (being part of a whole) would all be intimately bonded. This bond would be represented by dance, which may be called «the most serious intellectual activity of primitive life ».