Alva Noe - present research

Alva Noe- Dance as a way of Knowing

Alva Noe is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. He works principally on the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, with special interest in the theory of perception, and is also interested in the philosophy of art, the history of analytic philosophy and Phenomenology.


Just a few bullet points that I relevant to my recent curiosities:

• gates of access
• engagement with the living land
• human mind is influenced by the forgotten relations with the earth
• Gary Snyder
• weightlessness
• shifting the common state of consciousness in order to make contact with the other organic forms of sensitivity and awareness with which human existence is entwined
• intertwined matrix of sensations and perceptions
• encounter with other centres of experience, embodied subjects, receivers
• Space is earth
• introspection
• presence
• investigation how we perceive our body in relation to the world around us
• dance and philosophy of mind

This interview make me look back at different dance styles that fed my passion for moving and expressing myself. They all brought me here, at Coventry University for a dance degree- the place where I find and understand the threads that connect my moving principles and my thinking. It is interesting to notice how the principles of BMC have brought together all patterns from my background into the present and made me aware of their presence. This fact helps me embody a new concept of the word 'dance' as a state of myself, that comes from the inside and happens in me because if me and my choices.

BMC Body System and Everything

During the second BMC session we focused our attention on the Body Systems.

Arriving into space.

Movement exploration starting from the cell [freewriting]

dead cell, alive cell, slow, deep, inside and outside, sense and touch or touch and sense, continuous exchange, continuous negotiation between offering and receiving, pain and let go, softening the eyes socket, tension, vibrating, smal detail, small movement, move a mass of cell, at least try, it feels like removing an ocean, breathing is enough- even too much. Fluidity, gravity, expand and deflate, GAP.

-conscious?

-unconscious?

-responses?

-emotions?

My current curiosities

Thought of today

New beginning 

During recent movement explorations I became fascinated by the interactive relation between contemporary theories of cognitive science and dance making process. I am aiming to allow an ‘embodied thinking’ to feed my artistic dance practice as a new way of shaping values and challenges.

My main focus is to achieve access to the world around us through sensorial awareness, engagement and embodiment while aiming for another level of movement manifestation- a process of renewal, of ‘becoming the dance’.

Another layer of my interest is the notion of ‘presence’, how it is associated with the word ‘meaning’ and therefore a continuous experiential change of the thinking process.