Einav Katan’s research while affiliated with Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and other places

Katan suggests that Gaga is a somatic practice for perceptual inquires. In “Habitus, Embodied Knowledge, and Physical Intelligence,” Katan advances the consideration of physical practices as platforms for intelligent performance. The chapter draws attention to the social knowledge that is embodied in physical practices. Discussing philosophical and social theories, the chapter explores the physicality of “habitus,” where accordingly, cultural wisdom is comprehended by individuals. The chapter concludes with the case study of Gaga, analyzing the dance practice as an intelligible research, wherein dancers question, inquire and reform their bodily knowledge.

Katan explores the immediacy of decision making within the movements of Batsheva Dance Company dancers. The chapter points out the precision of intentionality in perceptual processes and discusses their possible mental, physical, and cognitive conditions. Focusing on the perceptual experience of dancing in Gaga, the chapter explores the embodied semiotic processes that enable perceptual judgments, and the cognitive role of somatic attention. The chapter draws additional attention to the potential varieties of directing intentionality according to somatic information, analyzing that somatic perceptual judgments enable imaginative freedom.

In “Enacting Perceptions” Katan propounds dancing as a perceptual process. The chapter provides terminological clarity and distinguishes between sensations as informative sources and perceptions as interpretative. Katan inquires into the relationship between the intentionality of dancers and their felt sensuality. The chapter explores the movement research in Gaga, as a case study that demonstrates the validity of perception in the efficiency of movement. Analyzing the cognitive act that correlates detached representations and sensory information, the chapter puts forward the pragmatic procedure of attunement between sensory stimulus and intentionality.

Katan offers a necessary summary concerning the integration between the embodiment of knowledge and the capacity to reform it. The chapter analyzes body-mind correlation as an inner integration between abstract knowledge and concrete understanding. Following pragmatism, the chapter parallels reformations of knowledge in dance and philosophy. Focusing on Gaga, Katan propounds the somatic research of bodily feelings as reformation of physical knowledge.

Katan examines the influence of the movement research on dancing according to composed choreography. The chapter advances the comprehension of dance forms according to Gaga, indicating that in Gaga the dancers put their concentration on the process of formatting a movement. The chapter indicates the regulations of physical dynamics as the origins of forms of dance. The chapter suggests that by practicing Gaga, somatic attention becomes habitual. “The Intelligible Form” puts forwards the capacity of dancers to follow their dynamical feelings as a perceptual activity that advances their physical intelligence.

In “Intentionality and the Aesthetic Will” Katan analyzes the mental instructions in Gaga as guidance of dancers’ intentionality towards somatic attention. The chapter discusses the freedom of will in aesthetics and phenomenology. Katan explores the case study of the instruction “be ready to move!” and parallels it to the hermeneutic feature of “readiness to play.” The chapter propounds seeing the direction of intentionality into somatic attention as a pragmatic procedure that enables a perceptual freedom.

The chapter puts forward the role emotions enact in perceptual processes. Katan suggests that although emotions do not have an explicit role in the practice of Gaga, they are implicitly comprehended and analyzed. The chapter explores the implicit information within emotions, analyzing them as embodied reactions that evaluate life situations in relation to a personal significance. Katan suggests that in dance, emotions can function as informative sources concerning the quality of attunement between intentionality and sensory information. Focusing on the case study of mental instructions in Gaga, the chapter indicates that feelings assist dancers adjusting their intentionality according to the work’s purpose.

Katan analyzes the dancing body as a means of expression. The chapter deals with the expressions of bodily movements, focusing on a case study from the opening sequence in Bellus, choreographed by Ohad Naharin and performed by Erez Zohar. The discussion integrates between the body as a medium for perception and of realization. Following aesthetic theories and the analyses in the former parts of the book, Katan propounds the comprehension of imminent integration between the perceptual processes of dancers, as an act of articulation, and the expressivity of bodily movements.

Following the sensual emphasis in Gaga and its analysis, Katan defines Gaga as phenomenological method. The chapter underlines the tuning of intentionality with somatic attention as a knowledgeable capacity that synchronizes body and mind. The chapter stresses the analytic knowledge of the dancers and confronts dualistic philosophical viewpoints that divide between knowing how and knowing that. Additionally, the chapter puts forward the suggestion that the mental life of dancers interacts with the perceptual process of movement and therefore affects it.

Katan propounds to comprehend the art of dancing as philosophical. The chapter opens with a description from the dance Mamottot, with choreography by Ohad Naharin for the Batsheva Dance Company. Focusing on hermeneutical questions, the chapter discusses philosophical traditions that consider the physicality of knowledge. Katan turns the description of Mamootot into a case study, exploring the relationship between dance and its theory. Accordingly, Katan offers to reexamine the relationship between dance and its philosophy as the interconnection between implicit and explicit knowledge, respectively.