The Language of Dance, the Dancer’s Eye, and Aesthetic Experience in Mary Wigman’s Hexentanz II

Abstract

Early Ausdruckstanz theory often compared Ausdruckstanz to a language to explain how Ausdruckstanz conveys the deeply personal, self-expressive message to its audience. Using Susanne Langer’s study on expression in art and George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s work on conceptual metaphors in tandem with early dance theory and Mary Wigman’s Hexentanz II, I argue for a conceptual metaphorical understanding of dance as language. Because dance possesses a physical, indexical connection to its meaning, the language of dance consitututes a series of conceptual, rather than linguistic, metaphors that explain how dance conveys meaning through symbolic form, which for Wigman’s Hexentanz II, I demonstrate, is a radically feminist message. Then, turning from the production of meaning in dance towards the perception of said meaning, using Wigman’s theory of the dancer’s eye, I show how the objective of Ausdruckstanz forms a bond between a dancer and audience, incorporating the audience into the dance and creating a new kinesthetic and aesthetic experience. With this goal in mind, Wigman’s Hexentanz II situates itself in the context of other early avant-garde and modernist movements that sought a complete re-evaluation of perception and aesthetic ideals as a response to modernity.