Abstracts Language, Literature, and Linguistic

TRACING GESTURE: The Body's Intrinsic Intelligence - Choreographing Meaning

by Karola Luttringhaus

This dissertation manifests in three distinct ways: 1) in the form of a written document that by verbalizing the subtexts of a choreographic project, analyzes and discusses the way choreography communicates social meaning, 2) in a choreographic research project entitled “Gestures of Love” that builds on my method of “Tracing Gesture”, and 3) through exercises that address the reader’s felt sense. “Tracing Gesture” is at the center of this work. It is presented as a specific improvisational practice of introspection and becoming conscious of emotions, thoughts, and feelings as expressed in movement that may be learned through the exercises. The dissertation attempts to develop a theory of articulation that posits logical linkages between moving and thinking which present dance as intrinsically linked to thought and expression of intelligence, drawing a model of embodied, semantic, communication through movement. This theory of articulation looks at three major intersections: the phenomenon of gesturing, where particular attention is given to non-codified spontaneous co-speech gestures, the improvisational practice of tracing, and the choreographic practice of subtexting or communicating socially and personally recognized meaning. In this articulation theory the “hard-wiring” of thought and movement is seen as a fundamental mechanism for psychological and physiological processing and as a fundamental human need. The theory posits that the connection between thought and movement is intrinsic to how our bodies and nature more broadly work to establish balance within a person, and within communities and ecologies, by forming relationships in cross-sensory and cross-epistemological ways. The individual is understood to be part of a socio-physiological collective, so that well-being and healing are thought of as achievable through creating, sharing, witnessing, and discussing movements and their meanings. In other words, movement has semantic content, acknowledged through verbal subtexting, that is recognizable, interpreted and understood, in ways that expand on linguistic communication, and open up different areas of self knowledge and social relations. My inquiry centrally engages with the idea that subtexting in dance is a form of gestural communication, and I conclude that all movements have meaning and relate to and express some form of intent, need, or experience. Gesture becomes the protagonist in dance by affording movements more attention, amplification, abstraction, translation, and expansion. Choreography is a form of communication because of its connection to gesture. However, I am committed to defining gesture not as socially rigid but as liberated by improvisational tracing. Through tracing gesture choreography becomes a means of connecting to others, as well as a built-in tool for psychological processing that generates opportunities for improving introspection, insight, and articulation – all of which potentially lead to greater well-being, emotional healing, and more empathetic conviviality.…