Dance between Gesture, Experience, and Articulation in the Philosophical Contexts of José Gil and Susanne K. Langer
Dance between Gesture, Experience, and Articulation in the Philosophical Contexts of José Gil and Susanne K. Langer

Summary/Abstract: This study examines dance as a unique form-generating medium of meaning-making that transcends traditional linguistic structures. It focuses on a comparison between two distinct approaches: the modernist aesthetics of Susanne K. Langer and the poststructuralist philosophy of José Gil. The aim is to demonstrate how their divergent understandings of embodiment and meaning in dance reflect the cultural and historical frameworks of their thought, as well as distinct epistemological dispositifs. Susanne K. Langer conceives of dance as a symbolic language expressing emotional and rhythmic structures, whereas José Gil understands it as a corporeal flow of intensities that articulates sense beyond classical language. This study proposes an interpretation of dance as a liminal form of articulation that interweaves corporeal, spatial, and symbolic dimensions. The selection of these two thinkers illustrates a broad philosophical spectrum – from the symbolic aesthetics of modernism to a poststructuralist ontology of the body. Methodologically, the text draws on poststructuralism and phenomenology, combining philosophical exegesis with the interpretation of selected choreographic cases (e.g., Marlene Monteiro Freitas, Germaine Acogny, Rudolf Laban). The study aims to offer a new reflection on the language of art through the lens of corporeality and the cultural situatedness of dance.

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