I took a
theater class once, in which the
professor attempted to show the class how certain parts of the
human anatomy were inherently
instilled with a
dramatic quality. He called it '
dividing the body into
cubes'.
The first cube was the intellectual, and was represented by the head; the evidence for this was that actors that portray scientists usually thrust their heads forward, to emphasize that quality.
The second cube was the spiritual, which was represented by the chest. Juliet would hold a note from Romeo to her chest, or Hamlet would mourn his father by putting his hand to his breast.
The third cube was the digestive/reproductive, and was represented by the stomach and pelvis. His example was how Elvis shocked a nation when he jutted his hips out on TV. My example is that Cheech and Chong seemed to accentuate their crotches and stomachs when they did skits.
The interesting thing was that these cubes could then be subdivided into smaller portions. For instance, the head as a whole is in the first cube, but within the head, the forehead is intellectual, the eyes are spiritual, and the nose and mouth are digestive/reproductive. On the arm, which wasn't really anything by itself, the upper arm was digestive/reproductive (think flexing a bicep), the lower arm was spiritual (think of a military salute) and the hand was intellectual.
His theory was that any part of the body could be divided into these three cubes, which would need to be properly emphasized in concert by a skilled actor. I'm not sure that he was entirely correct, but it's certainly an interesting thing to think about.