Tabula Rasa: an unadulterated perspective.

I am curious about the differences that exist between a dancer and a person without any prior experience of dance, performing arts, or athletics when they meet in a context of dance. The purpose of my work is to examine how I can use the observable differences, if any, in my own dance practice. I worked with two people with completely different dance backgrounds. By using improvisation within a set material, I observed and compared how the two subjects approached the tasks they were given in order to find out what working methods the nondancer displayed. Thereafter, I tested my observations physically in a movement phrase. My project resulted in a new way for me to approach and interpret movement material, a result I gave form to with a solo work, still in progress, where I focus on this method while performing.

Problem statement: how can I translate a non-dancer's method of dancing and way of expression into tools I can use myself to enrich and improve my way of understanding a material?