Movement as Method: Some Existential and Epistemological Reflections on Dance in the Health Humanities

Area of Science:

• Health Humanities
• Embodied Cognition
• Creative Arts Therapies

Background:

• The Health Humanities field integrates diverse perspectives to understand human health and illness.
• Embodied practices, like dance, are increasingly recognized for their potential to inform health-related knowledge and experiences.
• There is a need to explore how creative practices can actively contribute to the 'doing' of Health Humanities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore dance as a method for engaging in Health Humanities.
• To examine dance's dual role in facilitating healing and promoting knowledge within this field.
• To understand how dance integrates embodied experience with intellectual inquiry.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis integrating philosophical and practice-based perspectives.
• Exploration of dance as a mode of embodied knowing and therapeutic intervention.
• Literature review connecting dance studies, phenomenology, and Health Humanities scholarship.

Main Results:

• Dance cultivates a unique embodied awareness and attunement relevant to Health Humanities.
• It functions as a practice of healing by integrating physical and creative dimensions.
• It serves as a practice of knowing by providing existential security (tethering) and epistemological freedom (untethering).

Conclusions:

• Embodied creative practices like dance offer valuable methodologies for the Health Humanities.
• Dance facilitates a holistic approach, bridging the gap between lived experience and intellectual understanding.
• Integrating dance enriches the Health Humanities by fostering both personal well-being and critical insight.