The Aesthetic Perception of movement - Symmetry perception in Bharatanāṭyam dance.

Recently the field of Neuroaesthetic has started exploring the aesthetic experience of observing bodies in movement. In this experiment we have used short, selected movements derived from an indian classical dance style called Bharatanāṭyam. Each movement is based on the instruction given by the Nāṭyaśāstra, an ancient treatise on indian dramaturgy. The aim of this experiment is to investigate the aesthetic appreciation of this foreign dance style to see if there is a cross-cultural preference for symmetry. The short movements were presented to participants who are non-experts in dance in random combinations. Some combinations were symmetrical: the same movement first on the right side and then repeated on the left side, as to create a “good continuation” sequence, some others were asymmetrical both regarding the side as well as for the type of movement. After watching each couple of movement the participant had to answer, by sliding a bar on the screen, four questions regarding: how much they liked the movement, how much symmetrical it was, how familiar it was with other dance forms they may know and, finally, how difficult they think it was to perform (the choreographic architecture). We predicted that, even if it’s an unknown dance style for the majority of people in the western countries, the subjects would tend to like more the symmetrical condition both regarding the side and the type of movement.