Think Tank Thursday

This weeks Think Tank Thursday deals with the fascinating cells in your brain called Mirror Neurons.

It is theorized, and has been demonstrated through experiments, that these cells will fire in areas of your brain associated with the action you are watching. For example; if you watch a person reaching for a hot cup of tea and bring it to their mouth to drink, your brains mirror neurons will fire as if you were reaching for a hot cup of tea.

This response has been found to be intensified in people observing something they are familiar with. Dancers watching dance will have a heightened response in their brains and their neurons will be synapsing as if they were dancing themselves.

The fighting application is that specific, clean technique, and fully engages intention are even more crucial than they already were. The catch with mirror neurons is that they don't fire as intensely if the action the viewer is witnessing doesn't have any intention. Intention in your movement activates a whole body of micromuscle movements that the brain automatically registers. The more mirror neurons you can get to fire in the audiences brains, the more intense their experience will be. The more specific the movements, the deeper the audiences understanding and believability of the choreography will be because they will be living through each moment in their minds and comparing then to their own experiences and beliefs.

So, get specific and get detailed physically and intentionally. The more you put out there the more material the audience has to work with and the richer their experience becomes.

Greg