Tools for building togetherness – interviewing dance improvisation experts

The feeling of togetherness, which we understand as creating something larger than oneself with others, often emerges in creative, open-ended interactions, such as dancing or making music. We ask what states of mind are associated with this felt togetherness and what interactional skills can be used to foster it. To investigate this, in this study, we record eight short dance improvisation duets in controlled conditions. Video recordings are used as prompts for in-depth interviews with dancers involved and with expert dance improvisation teachers. Based on the interviews, we portray togetherness as a state of mindful attunement to one’s partner, with a focus on building a relational unity. This form of unity goes beyond typical dialogue dynamics rooted in turn-taking. We associate togetherness with moments in dance when dancers’ attention is focused on the process happening “in between” individuals, and they feel that the “dance dances itself”. To achieve this state, dancers use deliberate strategies, such as shifting attention focus to peripheral vision, adjusting the speed of their actions, and expanding the field of trust. Our results show that, if theories of social cognition are to be congruent with human experience, they should explain both individual- and collective-level processes.