Dancing With The Brain

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Dancing with the Brain Dance isn’t just a sport involving the body and its movements; rather it is a very mental process. While someone dances in their room or even on stage there are two systems in their brain working to make sure that everything goes as planned. These two systems are always present in us, but they take a unique perspective when relating to dance. The first system, called System 1 is processing what is happening all around and is making sure that there are no immediate emergencies. On the other hand System 2 is either zoned out or thinking about the next step. Only when these two systems work together, it makes the dancer appear fluid, and effortless. By being able to harness the ways of System 1 and System 2 …show more content…

System 1 “operates automatically and quickly” with little effort, while System 2 concerns itself with anything requiring effort. System 1 is in charge of things like simple math problems, understanding basic phrases, quick judgments, and driving a car on an empty road (Kahnman, 21). System 2 helps us function in society; it is part of the brain that we associate with ourselves. It does most of the heavy thinking and decision-making but is often lazy. System 1, on the other hand, is special because of the fact that it cannot be turned off; it is always taking more information. System 1’s constant intake allows us to see what is happening around us and be aware, but often most of the things system 1 says get ignored. For example, System 1 knows that you have socks on your feet, but you do not become aware of this until it was brought to your attention, and therefore system 2’s attention. System 1 is also in charge of snap judgments for jumping to conclusions, associating words and phrases together, and intuitive feelings. System one deals in heuristics by placing new information into old or existing information. All this demonstrates that System 1 and System 2 are present in every single thing that we do including …show more content…

There is so much effort that is put into simple choreography in order for it to look effortless. The brain has to work overtime to make the moves as simple as recalling what “2+2” is. These types of actions were completely due to System 1 and System 2 working together in order to make a dancer perform adequately. The main thing in order to improve dancing using the idea of harnessing System 1 and System 2 is to constantly practice. Keep the information fresh. The best thing to do in order to improve is take risks, challenge System 2 by trying new steps that seem impossible and keep repeating these steps until they are ingrained in the brain. These difficult steps will make sure that System 2 is activated so that learning can be guaranteed. Always remember that dancing is just as much of a mental exercise as it is a physical

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