Mirror Neurons
I've been AWOL for a few weeks, assisting on Elixir of Love for New Jersey Opera Theater in Princeton (there are still 3 more shows and I can highly recommend it: a funny, smart and moving production by David Grabarkewitz). I have been spending many hours commuting back and forth to rehearsal. I finally have an iPod and I'm enjoying catching up on my favorite shows from NPR and the CBC on the train. Here's a little tidbit of interest I listened to during my commute last week from a Studio 360 podcast.
Studio 360 in its 6/30/06 show (#726, Madness, Neurons, Poetry) had two segments on mirror neurons, something like shadow reactions in the brain, which were first discovered in monkeys and seem to have a lot to do with our reception of movement, gesture and art. Most interesting to me was David Freedberg discussing what he calls "felt immitative reactions"--that when we look at the body in motion, in life or in art, "we feel some kind of immitative sense within our guts" that we don't actually execute, but that makes us feel something, moves us. He is looking at responses to hand movements and gestures in pictures and how artists convey significant gestures. I can't wait to read of his work on this topic, and to hear about this scientific rationale behind something the ancients knew well, that gesture has a power to move you in a very real way. They called it moving the passions, we explain it with brain chemistry.
Elixir has such a moment that moves you out of your seat. I don't want to spoil the surprise, so maybe I'll wait until the final performance on Thursday, July 20 is over to write about it. And we'll see how the show evolves and how my perception of it changes as I watch the rest of the run.
Studio 360 in its 6/30/06 show (#726, Madness, Neurons, Poetry) had two segments on mirror neurons, something like shadow reactions in the brain, which were first discovered in monkeys and seem to have a lot to do with our reception of movement, gesture and art. Most interesting to me was David Freedberg discussing what he calls "felt immitative reactions"--that when we look at the body in motion, in life or in art, "we feel some kind of immitative sense within our guts" that we don't actually execute, but that makes us feel something, moves us. He is looking at responses to hand movements and gestures in pictures and how artists convey significant gestures. I can't wait to read of his work on this topic, and to hear about this scientific rationale behind something the ancients knew well, that gesture has a power to move you in a very real way. They called it moving the passions, we explain it with brain chemistry.
Elixir has such a moment that moves you out of your seat. I don't want to spoil the surprise, so maybe I'll wait until the final performance on Thursday, July 20 is over to write about it. And we'll see how the show evolves and how my perception of it changes as I watch the rest of the run.
posted by jag at 11:16 PM
1 Comments:
Hello Jennifer, I was using Google to see what came up for gorilla gesture and found your comment on my website. Thank you! I was delighted you found it. Just wanted to say hello. What I didn't mention on the site is that my first, and continuing, career is as a musician, violinist to be specific (Oberlin 1965 grad). Ponder the connections between music and gesture, especially on the violin!
I was very happy to meet you and read about your career and some of your blog entries.
Best wishes, Joanne Tanner
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