Abstract

It is commonly assumed that the art of dance is essentially concerned with the expression and arousal of emotion, at least in classical and modern western dance styles. However, although there are numerous philosophical studies on the role of emotion and expression in other arts, very little is written about this topic in relation to dance. At most, it is assumed that a theory of expression in, e.g., music, can be transferred to other art forms, such as dance. In this talk, I examine some recent theories on expression in abstract music in order to see, firstly, to what extent they are applicable to dance – more specifically to contemporary abstract dance – and secondly, whether they are plausible judged against the background of contemporary affective science. The focus on abstract music and dance – i.e., without words, narrative, or other referential components – is aimed at bracketing the contributions of linguistic or pictorial meaning, in order to clarify how emotions function specifically in dance.