HOW DOES MUSIC, COMBINED WITH MOVEMENT, AFFECT OUR BRAIN?
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Our brain is a big mystery. It has the capacity to make art, create it, receive it and react to it.
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Dance is a form of art where emotions are expressed through grace of movement.
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As scientists study the brain’s response to art, they found marvellous discoveries. Most of the remarkable ones pertain to the music used in combination with the dance movements.
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People respond to tragedies more than happy endings.
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OUR BRAIN IS A BIG MYSTERIOUS FACTORY OF IDEAS
Being intellectual is most widely accepted by the society as the greatest potential of a human being. But the brain along with the heart is driven most of the time by passion. Undeniably, passion speaks from the soul. And purely being intellectual is not enough for the soul to stay as alive and functional. It needs something abstract and it needs to be refreshed. In order to stay anew, creativity lies in the curious mind. And this is how new things and ideas are generated. Elizabeth Gilbert, writer of “The Big Magic” encourages people to stay curious. And according to her, it is the secret in living your life to the fullest.
BASIC FACTS ABOUT OUR BRAIN:
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- If your skull would be opened, the brain made up of gray matter would be revealed. It is divided into 2 hemispheres: the RIGHT hemisphere and the LEFT hemisphere.
- The RIGHT hemisphere connects to the left side of the body from neck down. That’s why when your dominant hand is left, you are most likely inclined to embrace arts more than numbers.
- The gray matter extends to the spinal column which our backbone protects. The spinal cord branches out into nerves that connect our brain to our extremities. This makes the brain the commanding centre of everything that we do.
- The earlier fact is important to understand paralysis. When people get paralysed, diagnosis had to state the origin of the injury. Say, when the person ends up with paralysed legs, his lower back got injured. And that is why, if the person got injured from the neck down, the brain could still remain functional as in the case of Christopher Reeves.
- Since the brain is the commanding centre, it has full potential of developing non-stop. In fact, it needs to be stimulated to stay functional. It is safe to say, when you keep idle, certain parts of the brain becomes paralysed too.
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DANCE AS A FORM OF ART AND HOW MOVEMENT IS RECEIVED BY THE BRAIN
Washington Post had featured this wonderful article about how the brain actually reacts to movement in combination with music. As a performing artist, sharing this wonderful discovery brings us into a special kind of awareness. It touches on how storytelling is so effective since the time of ancient playwrights. Wonderfully, it features the art of dance. It’s interesting how varied movements actually extract certain emotions. As you read the article, expect animation and music. And gauge yourself on how you become engaged to it with the help of these certain stimuli.
As we have mentioned earlier, the brain is a mysterious network of ideas, abilities and potential. In conclusion, what you put into your brain is what will be manifested into our actions as it justifies its very nature of being a commanding centre. What you think and what you internalize most often is bound to be channelled outwardly. And to that, understand your responsibility on how to nurture it. Hear the music, watch somebody dance and respond freely to what you see.
