Arts and Bodies

My sentiments about the Arts and Bodies events seem to parallel Ian's, especially those ideas focused on pointing out the inefficiency of language. Professor Moss revealed to me after the even that there are over 7000 THOUSAND languages being used in the world right now. The slideshow that was running throughout the event attempted to list all of them, but at the end the list had only gotten through the K's, not even halfway through all languages. This led me to think why is there such a plethora of languages, and if some are so well defined (for example english), how come communication barriers within a language continue to exist? If language is intended to promote the exchange of ideas, how come people with the same ideas have difficulty facilitating this exchange when they speak different languages? I don't know where I am getting at with this thought, but it leads me to believe, like Ian, that comfortability and efficiency can be established with a limited use of CONFORMED sound and an increase in physical action.

This process was clearly exemplified through the Jazz concert aspect of Arts and Bodies, which was an exchange of sound and physical action from musicians dancers. At points, it seemed as if the sound that each musician emitted elicited a certain type of physical response from the dancers, and at other times it seemed as if the dancing was what was influencing the choice of sounds by musicians. Though no words (which are conformed particles of sound) were transferred, the ideas were handed off almost seamlessly. Maybe this is why music tends to be known as the "universal language."