“Anatomy” usually refers “to the branch of science concerned with the bodily structure of humans, animals, and other living organisms, especially as revealed by dissection and the separation of parts” or “the bodily structure of an organism” as a scientific term, or “a study of the structure or internal workings of something” as a more general term. In the text of the “Movement” section of the book Dramaturgy in Motion by Katherine Profeta, the vocabularies of anatomy refer to the words that could be used to describe movement in dance.
To quote Katherine, “anatomical vocabulary does describe biological structures that have evolved over the ages to enable movement, that have movement’s potential inherent within their design.”In other words, an anatomical word itself could suggest some body movement that could be carried out by that part of the body—it is the implication that matters. What is more, dancers from different times and cultural locations have different anatomical vocabularies to describe movement, which reflects priorities in their own systems. “An awareness of anatomical differentiation and how it plays out in motion might allow the dramaturg to, for instance, distinguish a body’s fall to the side as initiated form the rib cage, or the trochanter, or the top of the skull.” That is to say, different anatomical vocabularies for dramaturgs provide them with more choices to more accurately describe the dancers’ movements.
I find the word interesting because anatomy is actually a field of biological science, but it turns out to be quite helpful to dramaturgs regarding its function of movement description. At this point, I discovered an intersection of subjects in the field of dramaturgy and dance: the use of anatomical words could actually benefit dramaturgs’ work a lot. Therefore, understanding the word “anatomy” could help us better understand dramaturgs’ roles and get familiar with the language they use.
Oxford dictionary Accessed 6 Jan 2018. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fragment.
Hello Yaozhong,
As I’m doing with all of your fellow students, I want to address some structural issues in your writing and then I will address content. First of all, when you introduce an author into your discussion, you first refer to her or him by first and last name as you did in your writing – so Katherine Profeta. Then when you subsequently reference the author, you do so by her or his last name only. So, where you write “Katherine,” you should write “Profeta.” Please consult with Leslie and/or Sebastian during their office hours to just check your posts. Also book titles should be italicized. Chapters or journal articles should be set off in quotes. While you properly highlight and link the reference – you still need to add the page number in parenthesis after the quote because your reader might like to check the context of your reference.
Now to some of the content of your writing. Is it possible for you to go further in your thought process here? So yes – the biological terms that are used to denote body parts become shorthand for a movement impulse. What does the language of dance and biology share? And interest in what it means to be bodied — the materiality of the body. In your response you note how the language of the dance dramaturg connects motion to corporality. But can there be a mutual affectation too? Does dance – or dance language enhance what is forgotten in biology which is the body is not ever static but it is always in motion (cells, blood flows, breath, muscles twitching)? How it is that dance understands both the body and motion, but the discourse of biology abstracts out that concept? If you bring the two disciplines to think in relation to one another – think about how each have an impact on the other when you do so. Go further then telling me that anatomy helps the dramaturg. How could dance or someone who thinks about dynamic movement, help the biologist?