I don’t get modern dance. Neither do you. That’s because there’s nothing to “get.” Dance speaks a language of its own — a kinetic language, a cellular language, a somatic language — and trying to shove it into a rational framework doesn’t work.

I had the distinct pleasure this past week of discussing the language of dance with Vicci Martinez, who has spent the last couple of months creating original music for one component of this weekend’s installment of MOVE! 15. For those who don’t know, MOVE! is an ongoing modern dance series presented by MLKBallet. This weekend marks the 15th installment, and will feature a piece that explores the subtleties and varieties of love choreographed by MLKBallet’s Artistic Director Kate Monthy.

So, you may ask, why the hell am I talking to Vicci Martinez?

Well, Martinez is kind of involved. She created several original pieces of music for Monthy’s contribution to the show, and isn’t afraid to get all metaphysical when talking about art.

Like many people, Martinez concedes that she didn’t always “get” modern dance.

“People go with a lot of expectations,” says Martinez of her experience with dance performance. “When you go to a local show, you expect to be moved emotionally. And if you don’t know what you’re looking for, if you go there with expectations, you can miss it. If you just go and sit down and open up and say ‘I’m just going to enjoy this,’ you’ll get a lot more out of it.”

It is not uncommon for people experiencing their first dance performance to feel floods of emotion — sometimes grief, sometimes overwhelming elation — always powerful, and usually impossible to put into words. According to some researchers, this response — and its surprising magnitude — is the result of witnessing the sublime beauty of the language of the body.

See, most of us live in our heads, and interpret experience based on verbal or rational language structures. A Zen master, or a trained dancer, would remind you words are simply a tool for categorizing experiences that originate in our bodies. All those words we apply to experience are one-step removed from actual, immediate experience — an edited, convenient synopsis of what’s actually happening — a labeling system. Alan Watts refers to the phenomenon as “confusing the menu with the meal.” In the process, we sacrifice many of the deep experiences that can only be felt through the body, which has its own language and a depth of feeling that makes words seem paltry. That is, if we can get out of our heads long enough to embrace the experience.

For Martinez, the experience of collaborating with a bunch of dancers has been the most fulfilling project of her life.

“It’s so much easier to connect with this because your ego’s out of it,” she says. “It’s all about how people are moving. The music needs to be on the same wavelength. It’s so not about me. I had to put myself in the mindset of the people that are moving.”

[Tacoma School of the Arts, MOVE! 15, Friday, Nov. 20, 7 p.m., Sat., Nov. 21, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., $12-$15, 1118 Commerce St., Tacoma, www.brownpaper tickets.com]