Dance as mindful movement: a perspective from motor learning and predictive coding.
BMC neuroscience November 6, 2024 W Tecumseh Fitch, Rebecca Barnstaple 9 citations
Dance in a broad sense can be defined as "mindful movement"—a form of expressive movement characterized by a specific type of conscious awareness. This proposal reframes dance beyond rhythmic movement to music, including improvisation, pantomime, tai chi, and butoh. The authors ground this definition in predictive coding and procedural learning theory: mindful movement involves a suspension of automatization. When learning a motor skill, conscious awareness is high, but overlearning suppresses it. In mindful movement, this process is inverted, reactivating unconscious movement details in conscious awareness and enabling renewed aesthetic attention. This perspective suggests potential animal analogs of dance and opens experimental avenues.