Conflux and Imagination: Perspectives from Philosophy and Drama

Leading philosopher in the field of body memory, John Sutton, has emphasised that all memory is embodied and that the embodied characteristics of memory influence not only how, but also what, we remember. In this paper, I will specifically focus on presenting phenomenological descriptions of body memories of relevance for dance practices. I would like to emphasise that the ways that different kinds of memory are meshed in the many contexts of our habitual actions is central for the descriptions of the dancers’ memory of habits and skills
A large part of dancers’ practices are, in different ways, focused on developing, adjusting and optimising certain techniques of the body (as specialised habits) according to criteria of the artistic field. I contend that it would be a mistake to think of these body techniques – or specialised habits – as a repertoire of more or less automatised movements. Rather, in each repetition, habits are to be understood as unfolding in response to the present context and accordingly instantiate a fresh memory of these habits while moulding them at the same time. In sociological discussions, several researchers have drawn attention to the facts that when exploring, and possibly changing, habits, we at the same time rely on other habits and that habit does not only include sensory-motor use of our bodies, but also the way we handle our attention and focus our awareness. Habits are thus the necessary foundation on which improvisations can exist. The unfolding of any habit is itself partly improvised in response to specific contextual demands. I will therefor also argue that dance improvisation can then only be understood when taking into consideration its complex relation to habits and body memory.