Flamenco Dance as a Means of Expressing Emotions and Developing Emotional Intelligence

The article examines the fl amenco dance as a means of expression of the dancer’s emotions and development of emotional intellect. It has been noted that up to the present time in scholarship there has not been any unifi ed approach towards the essence of the concept of “emotion” and the characterization of emotional intellect. The authors of the article note that emotions demonstrate the experience of various types of situations by the subject, evaluation of their meaning, as well as transformations and regulations of behavior in consideration of the achieved evaluation. The article substantiates the meaning of human existence in the context of the affective-emotional nature of individuals and people’s belonging to the category of emotional-social beings. It is shown that emotions serve not only as an organizing and motivating factor of behavior, but also as a factor of personalized development and relationship with the surrounding world. Analysis is made of the views on emotions of a number of authors, including Wilhelm Reich, who presumed that chronic tension in the human being’s organism negatively affects his energetic fi eld, at the basis of which lie strong emotions, not allowing him to experience these emotions and distorting the expression of feelings. The human being can free himself of such energy blocks only after having fully experienced these emotions. In its turn, the experience of these emotions and, consequently, their discharge may be carried out by means of art and artistic creativity. Hereinafter the fl amenco dance is examined as a means not only of remittal of the dancer’s and the audience’s psycho-emotional tension, but also the development of emotional intellect.