ABSTRACT
Conceptualisations of the relationship between mind and body are central to the understanding of performance. Traditional western approaches privilege the mind, postmodern theory focuses on the body, leading in turn to specific different training methods. A recent turn to “Asian” traditions of performance and martial arts has tended to remain within the western dualistic discourse. Western science and philosophy have, however, proposed models of consciousness which challenge the binary opposition of mind and body. Daniel Dennet’s model of self as a center of narrative gravity, and Owen Flanagan’s constructivist naturalism theory of consciousness are introduced and discussed with reference to performance, in particular Ping Chong and Anne Bogart.
