Can Another Body Be Seen as an
Extension of Your Own?
The relationship between a
person’s notion of self-hood
and the openness of their
body schema to another
human being hints that
perhaps it’s no coincidence
that tango, which takes
entanglement to sublime
heights, originated in a culture
that orients toward
interdependence.
“speak in awe of the way that individuality
dissolves into a meditative unity for the
three minutes that the dance lasts. Time and
space give way to a unique moment of
presence, of flow within and between
partners.”
In this article some people have the interest to
investigate how two different people can make a
magnificent conection to create a dance.
They look how this people are connected and how
their minds are conected being two different
people.
And look how they can be only one.
At the heart of the puzzle is the notion of a body
schema—a mental representation of the physical self
that allows us to navigate through space without
smashing into things.
Tests show that participants extended their body schemas
to incorporate a partner’s body part when it had been
involved in a jointly coordinated activity.