It Is Indeed a Dance

Polina Masevnina

It Is Indeed a Dance is a project exploring the emotional, psychological, and cultural shifts within contemporary romantic discourse. Using the metaphor of dance as a dynamic, often asymmetrical interplay between self and other, the project investigates love and post-love conditions marked by ambivalence, hyper-awareness, and emotional fatigue. Drawing on concepts such as limerence, attachment theory, fantasy bonding, and “situationships,” it examines how psychological language has entered everyday dating vocabulary—shaping not only how we talk about love, but how we experience it. Through autotheoretical writing, visual media and spatial compositions, the project seeks to map and mediate intimate dynamics in an era where connection feels both over-analyzed and elusive. It reflects on the contradictions of contemporary intimacy, where vulnerability is praised but rarely safe, and communication is vital yet often ineffective in post-romantic conditions.

BELL, Robert and Michael DRISCOLL. Social Anxiety and Sexual Satisfaction: The Role of Sexual Communication. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2012, 31(10), 931–949. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2012.31.10.931

HEDBLOM, Maria M., Fabian NEUHAUS, and Till MOSSAKOWSKI. The Diagrammatic Image Schema Language (DISL). Spatial Cognition & Computation, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1080/13875868.2024.2377284

DUTTON, Donald G. and Susan PAINTER. Emotional Attachments in Abusive Relationships: A Test of Traumatic Bonding Theory. Violence and Victims, 1993, 8(2), 105–120.

HORVAT, Srećko. The Radicality of Love. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2015.

ILLOUZ, Eva. Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2007.

TENNOV, Dorothy. Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love. New York: Stein and Day, 1979.

VILISOV, Vladimir. Постлюбовь. Будущее человеческих интимностей. Москва: АСТ, 2022.

ŻEMOJTEL-PIOTROWSKA, Maria, Janusz PIOTROWSKI, Lauren K. CLINTON, Joanna RÓŻYCKA-TRAN, and Tomasz BARAN. Patterns of Intimacy Crisis Resolution and Their Associations with Romantic Loneliness in Polish and U.S. Young Adults. Developmental Psychology, 2022, 58(8), 1457–1471.

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