How phenomenology can explain my dancing behaviour- a brief insight

After scouring for a framework for one of my upcoming essays, I kept coming across phenomenology. It is a term I am used to after it being studied last year by my fellow peers, yet not me. I figured I would bridge the gap of knowledge that they had over me and research it on my own.

First of all it is so vast, so broad that no where near anything will be covered in my essay. But one thing stuck by me that my idea can fall into Bartenieff fundamentals of movement too- how our childhood can shapes our now.

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Phenomenology by explanation is: 'the study of essences, and it holds that all problems amount to defining essences, such as the essence of perception or the essence of consciousness' (Landes, D. A. 2012: 7).

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Bartenieff follows an ideology that we have movement patterns we go through from the womb to adult, which when gradually built give us our capability of movement. Most people will have less developed stages- resulting in a weakness in 'adult movement' but can be re-learnt at any age.

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In a sense, how we dance is innate to us. No one else can fully experience what we do- no matter how hard we describe it or even get the person to do themselves. For instance I can explain what sand feels like, or get someone to hold it, but my body will always have a slight variation which can be bodily, from past experiences or many other options. When someone replicates what you are explaining (holding sand) this is known as the Binary as it gets the two of your experiences closer but will always be slightly separate.

So how is this related to my dancing?

how it works

I never climbed trees can explain why I don't have the trust in my arms when on another surface / floor. As I haven't experienced using my hands as a point of contact I have got into movement habits that now correspond into my dancing.

I am happy being lifted in dance as i was carried a lot as a child. This could be down to being used to trusting others and moving at heights that the thought of jumping on someone or being thrown in the air is less terrifying.

These vast and very brief ideas can be used to research into phenomenological and Bartenieff ideas in my own dance practice.

Write a list of your strengths and weakness, what you like. Can you find anything that may explain it as once you know you are closer to solving those issues?