Honors College Art & Science of Emotions Fall 2017 (1:20 p.m.) Love Journal | Page 9

Self Love in the Physical and Performing Arts
In the modern day love is showcased as existing mostly in two different forms: eros (between two separate people in a romantic/
sexual relation) and philia (between two people who share a friendly fondness and set of values). It is common for these types of love to be
seen in movies, television, music, art, and literature; in fact, they are some of the largest themes in modern day artwork. However, it is
important to note that these are not all the forms of love that are experienced by humanity on a daily basis. Unfortunately, this view on love
has led to a lesser amount of opportunities for humanity to explore other forms of love, especially the love for self. Even when we do allow
for self-love to be explored, the ways in which this can be done is often limited to what society views as acceptable in it’s depiction, often
through high arts such as theatre and poetry. While performances of physical representations of art are similar to theatre in that they are
demonstrated in front of an audience and allow for the actor (or performer) to express their feelings or the feeling of the character they
are portraying, the physical arts are often viewed as void of emotion and/or meaning while theatre is applauded for the vulnerability and accu-
racy with which is expresses emotions. In order to improve the access we all have to the discovery of self-love, the ability of alternate activ-
ities to express and share love must be explored and accepted.
A major connection between love and physical activity is adrenaline, a hormone commonly associated with one of the stages of love.
In love, this hormone leads to a racing 1 heart and lack of desire to eat and sleep. On the other hand, adrenaline is secreted during moments
of intense physical activity adrenaline to increase oxygen flow to the muscles in order to make the body more ready to react. In a physical
arts performance setting such as that of 2 Tamarind Halstrom’s aerial hoop performance for the 2015 Pole Sport Organization championship,
the adrenaline is secreted at even higher amounts of stress in partaking in this 3 physical activity is heightened by the presence of an audi-
ence. Therefore, while Halstrom is not explicitly expressing love to the audience, she could still be feeling sensations that parallel love,
which is a possible reason behind her song choice (a cover of Crazy in Love by Beyonce). It is then natural to lead to the conclusion that
Halstrom could be experiencing a form of love towards the activity she is partaking in. However, a popular argument among philosophers has
been that it is not possible to love something that is not in turn capable of loving you back, making the idea that once could love an activity
ridiculous. Another way to look at this love; however, is to consider the love for Halstrom is feeling for herself in regards to this
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