Paper short abstract:

The paper speaks about hesitation as it is understood in the professional practice of contemporary dance. The author will argue that hesitation has little to do with the realm of improvised/unscripted moments and/or the familiar rules. Rather, it is a state, created by dis-alignment between body and mind(thought), in terms of not-being-fully-here.

Paper long abstract:

From the perspective of contemporary dance (particularly improvisation) the author (both a dancer and an anthropologist) will firstly aim at clarifying a few crucial nuances between terms, e.g. hesitation vs. suspension, uncertainty/insecurity vs. indecisiveness, etc. By doing so she hopes to set a more distinctive ground, in order not to miss the essence/substance of dance/bodily practice in the first place. Furthermore, she would like to show how hesitation and/or uncertainty are both basic states, which do not appear any differently due to a contextual setting/frame/form of the practice - i.e. its uprise does not depend on whether dancers are learning, improvising or performing a highly rehearsed performance. On the contrary, hesitation may happen equally within any of these settings, while - at least in performing arts - its effects could hardly be considered as anything else but disruptive.

Namely, in dance (performative) practice, hesitation and uncertainty are known as a result of "not being in the body", "thinking ahead" or simply "mind and body being apart". Although in theoretical fields such dualism is thought to be (somewhat) clarified, dancers know that "oneness" needs to be established each second anew. When they fail to practically achieve it, hesitation takes place. This prevents a performer from "being-there" and makes the dance non-believable. Thus, achieving a state of total "decidedness" is a skill and plays an equal role within any expression, communication, form of practice, within any objectified or possibly objectifiable practice. This is what defines a real doing: anything else is either trying-to-do, or representing-the-doing.