Watching Dance: Kinesthetic Empathy

Watching Dance Updates

Register for April's international conference Kinesthetic Empathy: Concepts and Contexts

Watch the extraordinary dance film Line Dance by Alex Reuben and comment on the experience in our discussion forum.

Read all about our Sound/Music Investigation in collaboration with Rosie Kay Dance Company

Make friends with us on Facebook

Come and meet us at a drop in session for our new Manchester Dance Salon

Research questions

Anna Kuppuswamy. Photograph by Steve Osborn.

To what extent do spectators of dance internally simulate the movement observed?

What conditions favour empathetic responses?

What are the roles of social engagement and emotional response in kinesthetic empathy? read more



Srishti - Play Ball: The Contact Theatre 9 October 2008

About the project

'Watching Dance: Kinesthetic Empathy' uses audience research and neuroscience to explore how dance spectators respond to dance.

It is a multidisciplinary project, funded by a grant from the AHRC, involving collaboration across four institutions... read more



The Flower. Photograph by Steve Osborn

What is kinesthetic empathy?

Spectators of dance experience kinesthetic empathy when, even while sitting still, they feel they are participating in the movements they observe, and experience related feelings and ideas... read more


 

Drawing the Theatrical Experience: How Children Watch Theatre

What is qualitative audience research?

Qualitative audience research engages with relatively small numbers of individuals in order to gain a complex, detailed and in-depth understanding of their experiences and response to watching a performance... read more


 

Social brain

What is neuroscience?

Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system, which includes the brain, the spinal cord and networks of sensory nerve cells (neurons) throughout the body. It is a rapidly developing field that aims to advance the understanding of human thought, emotion, and behavior using a range of techniques and disciplines... read more


Photograph credits and copyright

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