Abstract

Accounting for expression presents a central problem for aesthetic theories; It is the problem of how a nonsentient physical object—a painting, a concerto, a dance—can “carry” or convey human emotion. How, for example, does a perceived shape or “form” become a “felt” form? In dance, to speak of “form” is to refer to both the changing shape of the dancer’s body and the dynamic shape the dancer’s movements describe in space. Dance is distinguished from some other visual arts in that the seen object, the dancer, unlike, say, a work of sculpture, presumably has experienced emotions even if she does not experience them while dancing. The audience spectator, however, does not see the dancer’s emotions, only her bodily...