Article

How Marking in Dance Constitutes Thinking with the Body

in Versus n. 112-113, The External Mind. Perspectives on Semiosis, Distribution and Situation in Cognition, pp.183-214

Abstract (english)

This essay is an inquiry into the practice in dance known as ‘marking’, and in particular into what it teaches us about distributed thinking – thinking with body and world. When marking, dancers use their body-in-motion to represent some aspect of the full-out dance phrase they are thinking about. The practice of creating a simplified version of a process – a personal model to work and think with – is found in countless activities beyond dance. But it is explicitly taught in dance. This phenomenon was studied using the extensive video footage captured by six to eight video cameras during a three week dance creation process by the master choreographer Wayne McGregor. The main theoretical question addressed is why marking-for-self is more powerful than mental simulation by itself. What ‘extra’ do dancers get from marking? My conclusion, overall, is that a body-in-motion can serve as a dynamic vehicle of thought for a dancer. By externalizing a model of their dance phrase a dancer is able to entertain thoughts faster and more deeply about the phrase than through mental simulation on its own. Marking provides a material structure that supports projecting deeper, enables more detailed mental simulation, and serves to facilitate motor learning.