Understanding in our bodies: nonrepresentational imagery and dance

Abstract

This paper discusses some of the means through which non-representational imagery in dance, and in particular in digital choreography, can be understood by audiences. I argue that, although movement that has representational content might have a meaning that can be translated into words, more nuanced interpretations of the movement are understood through an embodied understanding of their more detailed subtleties. I further argue that non-representational movement, which does not pretend to represent anything, can communicate other types of understanding as one engages in the act of viewing the movement of dancers, and more particularly. digital imagery that uses human movement as its source