Introduction

The first contribution devoted to the complex phenomenon of dance as the significant combination of music and movement provides the gestalttheoretical framework for the analysis. Serena Cattaruzza and Walter Coppola move from Christian von Ehrenfeld’s observations on Gestalt qualities, focusing on his example of melody. They stress the comparison between auditory and visual fields, emphasizing the difference between temporal and spatial Gestalt forms. Based on broad empirical results, Cattaruzza and Coppola uncover the relevance of dance as a phenomenon that bridges the gap between temporal and spatial Gestalt. Dance is also the topic explored by Irene Candelieri with reference to Franz Boas’ anthropological field research. She illustrates the connection between Boas’ results on the significance of dance for Indians’ traditions and rituals and the therapeutic approach developed by Franziska Boas. Here, dance emerges as a free and nonconscious, self-directed movement, which combines active and passive qualities of the human experience of motion. An empirical basis for the investigation of movement in specific ecological contexts is provided by Tiziano Agostini and his research group based at the University of Trieste. In their study of human walking, the relationship between auditory information and physical movement comes into the foreground and its significance for sport and motor rehabilitation is empirically assessed. All three contributions show, in an impressive manner, how movement can be grasped in empirical and gestalttheoretical research beyond any reductionism and physical mechanization.