Introduction: Towards a neurocognitive science of dance – two worlds approaching or two approaches to the same world of movement?

What will happen when dancers, choreographers, cognitive and neuroscientists come together to talk about movement, the body and the brain in order to understand the phenomenon of dance? We were intrigued by this question when we organised the symposium that finally led to the production of this book. What we witnessed during these 3 days truly exceeded our expectations. We were impressed by the positive personal reactions by members of the scientific community, who, in several situations, were simply amazed and touched by the mere beauty, precision and energy of movement of the dancers who improvised or demonstrated their movement sequences in the lecture hall. Dancers and dance teachers were equally as fascinated when they discovered that many of the theoretical ideas and results that were brought forward in the talks also yielded beauty and precision, and often also practical benefit for the dance community. The reactions on both sides expressed silent respectful amazement, which may be the premise for a true gain of knowledge, the origin of mutual understanding. It might have been this personal experience of feeling deeply touched that keeps bringing the newly established community of dancers and scientists together and that has given rise to the idea of writing this book together.