According to the French philosopher Henri Bergson, the body is a center of actions and every perception is action-orientated. He considers body and mind to be two separate entities. The mind contains the past, which is stored in memory. The body is an image of the brain that is tied up in the present, by actual matter, affections and action.
I do not agree with this separation and don’t consider memory to be strictly restrained to the mind. However, I do agree with his idea of perception, in which present and past are always united. The past, through either conscious or subconscious memory, always intervenes in the perception of the present.
I strongly believe that body cannot be separated from mind and soul because you cannot exclude your soul from the body while you are being in the sensation of the art of dance or you cannot exclude your mind while moving your body parts consciously and technically. This is very well codified in the ancient Indian tradition of dramaturgy "Natyashastra" as a beautiful phrase, which means
The feet keeping to time, hands expressing gesture, the eye following the hand with expression, the ear listening to the music- by harmonizing these five elements the mind achieves concentration and attains clarity in the very richness of participation. The inner feeling of the dancer is the sixth sense which harnesses these five mental and mechanical elements to create the experience and enjoyment of beauty.
I have clearly understood that one cannot ignore the uniqueness of body mind and soul if one wants to consider dance as an art form.
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