Professional dancers bounded across the stage at the opening presentation of the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Watching them move in perfect coordination with music triggers a host of questions for neuroscientists and non-dancers alike: How do these artists know when their joints have extended "just-so" to execute a move? What drives this sense of body awareness--what neuroscientists call proprioception? And how do they know when and where to step to avoid the most ungraceful of collisions? The answers are difficult to explain, even for world-renowned choreographer Mark Morris (pictured).
"It's like driving a car, you're just there," Morris said. His panel discussion "Dance: Movement in Time & Space" was billed as a forum to explore questions that seemed to overlap the worlds of dance and neuroscience, like how the dancers in Morris' famous company learn and remember the complicated sequence of body movements for both their roles in the piece and the roles of their fellow dancers.
Starting this Saturday, our reporters will be at the Society for Neuroscience 
