Awareness Leading to Action -- Class Reading
Life is full of sensory experiences. We are constantly surrounded by noise, images, and smells. In Van der Leeuw’s detailed study of dance, he explores this reality by focusing on a human’s reactions to rhythm. By attaching the dance to the totality of human culture he is arguing, “The dance is indeed the movement of man in the literal sense, but it is not his natural movement, being rather the specifically human movement created by him. It is ordered movement” (14). When man acknowledges rhythm and invents a response, he is creating culture. Here, Van der Leeuw is not referring to the negative connotations associated with culture, but to its literally meaning of “grinding something to a finish.” He suggests we are possibly seeking for ourselves a place outside the course of the world. I agree and can relate to this notion that humans are programed to create and fashion. Unlike Van der Leeuw, however, I perceive dance, in its most pure form, as entirely natural. With every step and purposeful movement, a rhythmic flow is created. We enjoy this experience because we connect with something greater then ourselves.
Life is full of sensory experiences. We are constantly surrounded by noise, images, and smells. In Van der Leeuw’s detailed study of dance, he explores this reality by focusing on a human’s reactions to rhythm. By attaching the dance to the totality of human culture he is arguing, “The dance is indeed the movement of man in the literal sense, but it is not his natural movement, being rather the specifically human movement created by him. It is ordered movement” (14). When man acknowledges rhythm and invents a response, he is creating culture. Here, Van der Leeuw is not referring to the negative connotations associated with culture, but to its literally meaning of “grinding something to a finish.” He suggests we are possibly seeking for ourselves a place outside the course of the world. I agree and can relate to this notion that humans are programed to create and fashion. Unlike Van der Leeuw, however, I perceive dance, in its most pure form, as entirely natural. With every step and purposeful movement, a rhythmic flow is created. We enjoy this experience because we connect with something greater then ourselves.
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