Self and peer review in dance classes using personal video feedback

Many forms of formative feedback are used in dance training to refine the dancer’s spatial and kinaesthetic awareness in order that the dancer’s sensorimotor intentions and observable danced outcomes might converge. This paper documents the use of smartphones to record and playback movement sequences in ballet and contemporary technique classes. Peers in pairs took turns filming one another and then analysing the playback. This provided immediate visual feedback of the movement sequence as performed by each dancer. This immediacy facilitated the dancer’s capacity to associate what they felt as they were dancing with what they looked like during the dance. The often-dissonant realities of self-perception and perception by others were thus guided towards harmony, generating improved performance and knowledge relating to dance technique. An approach is offered for potential development of peer review activities to support summative progressive assessment in dance technique training.

The double dance of agency: a socio-theoretic account of how machines and humans interact

The nature of the relationship between information technology (IT) and organizations has been a long-standing debate in the Information Systems literature. Does IT shape organizations, or do people in organisations control how IT is used? To formulate the question a little differently: does agency (the capacity to make a difference) lie predominantly with machines (computer systems) or humans (organisational actors)? Many proposals for a middle way between the extremes of technological and social determinism have been put advanced; in recent years researchers oriented towards social theories have focused on structuration theory and (lately) actor network theory. These two theories, however, adopt different and incompatible views of agency. Thus, structuration theory sees agency as exclusively a property of humans, whereas the principle of general symmetry in actor network theory implies that machines may also be agents. Drawing on critiques of both structuration theory and actor network theory, this paper develops a theoretical account of the interaction between human and machine agency: the double dance of agency. The account seeks to contribute to theorisation of the relationship between technology and organisation by recognizing both the different character of human and machine agency, and the emergent properties of their interplay.

A Practical Approach to Using Motion Capture in Performance Dance

Markerless systems are becoming more ubiquitous due to their increased use in video games consoles. Cheap cameras and software suites are making motion capture technologies more freely available to the digitally inclined choreographer. In this workshop we will demonstrate the opportunities and limitations provided by easily accessible and relatively inexpensive markerless motion capture systems. In particular we will explore the capacity of these systems to provide useful data in a live performance scenario where the latency, size and format of the captured data is crucial in allowing real-time processing and visualisation of the captured scene

Capturing dance : using motion capture analysis to enhance dance creation and performance

Opening keynote address.

Snapshots of complexity: using motion capture and principal component analysis to reconceptualise dance

This article brings together the disparate worlds of dance practice, motion capture and statistical analysis. Digital technologies such as motion capture offer dance artists new processes for recording and studying dance movement. Statistical analysis of these data can reveal hidden patterns in movement in ways that are semantically ‘blind’, and are hence able to challenge accepted culturo-physical ‘grammars’ of dance creation. The potential benefit to dance artists is to open up new ways of understanding choreographic movement. However, quantitative analysis does not allow for the uncertainty inherent in emergent, artistic practices such as dance. This article uses motion capture and principal component analysis (PCA), a common statistical technique in human movement recognition studies, to examine contemporary dance movement, and explores how this analysis might be interpreted in an artistic context to generate a new way of looking at the nature and role of movement patterning in dance creation.

Learning to dance with a human

Artificial neural networks are an effective means of allowing software agents to learn about and filter aspects of their domain. In this paper we explore the use of artificial neural networks in the context of dance performance. The software agent’s neural network is presented with movement in the form of motion capture streams, both pre-recorded and live. Learning can be viewed as analogous to rehearsal, recognition and response to performance. The interrelationship between the software agent and dancer throughout the process is considered as a potential means of allowing the agent to function beyond its limited self-contained capability.

Technology as collaborator in somatic photographic practice

This article will address several areas of research. Firstly it will propose that a dance experience can translate into another discipline such as visual art. In my visual art practice I combine both photography, which is traditionally seen as a still medium, and performance in order to create a new form of embodiment. By acknowledging the inter-relationship between the body and the camera my project seeks to challenge a perceived separation between the disciplines. Fly Rhythm, an exhibition of 13 photographs and one video projection was conceived through a performative somatic process. I have developed the term ‘somatic photography’ to articulate subjective experiences in the context of my process of imaging movement in stillness. My thinking has been informed by visual art practice exploring movement and meaning using video and an older history of performance as a dancer and choreographer. I am primarily interested in movement initiated by a bodily response to light through still rather than moving imagery although artists such as Maya Deren whose films explore themes of time and space have influenced me. In my practice the term ‘somatic photography’ helps articulate the act of taking photographs, which is how meaning is being created rather than purely in the finished art works. The term somatic photography puts emphasis on the action of taking the image. Through using a custom made camera I was able to negotiate time and space as a dancer and create a visual drawing that talked to both choreography and fine art practice. This article engages with the following ideas: somatic photography, photography as choreography, body memory, ageing body, technology as collaborator, gallery interface, screen interface and movement.

Haptically-enabled dance visualisation framework for deafblind-folded audience and artists

In this paper we propose a framework for communicating performance art to deaf, blind and deafblind audiences and artists haptically through the sense of touch. This research opens doors for novel artistic trends relying mainly on the sense of touch. The paper investigates the design considerations dictated by solo and group dances as well as stage setup. Implementation scenarios for deafblind audiences and performers are also discussed.

Technology as collaborator in somatic photographic practice

This visual essay will address several areas of research. First, it will propose that a dance experience can translate into another discipline such as visual art. In my visual art practice I combine both photography, which is traditionally seen as a still medium, and performance in order to create a new form of embodiment. By acknowledging the interrelationship between the body and the camera my project seeks to challenge a perceived separation between the disciplines. The following images were conceived through a performative somatic process, which I define in the course of this article. Through using a custom made camera I was able to negotiate time and space to create visual drawings that talk to both choreography and fine art practice.

Pixel review: Dance and digital wizardry conjure stunning illusions

A number of artists have explored the fusion of technology with performing arts. From Gideon Obarzanek​ and Frieder Weiss' projection mapping techniques with Glow and Mortal Engine to Garry Stewart and Thomas Pachoud's​ experiments with real-time looping and layered video in Proximity, it seems that infusing performance with choreographed bodies, screen-based design and choreographed pixels is the next frontier of contemporary performance.

Raman microscopy of formamide-intercalated kaolinites treated by controlled-rate thermal analysis technology

Raman spectroscopy of formamide-intercalated kaolinites treated using controlled-rate thermal analysis technology (CRTA), allowing the separation of adsorbed formamide from intercalated formamide in formamide-intercalated kaolinites, is reported. The Raman spectra of the CRTA-treated formamide-intercalated kaolinites are significantly different from those of the intercalated kaolinites, which display a combination of both intercalated and adsorbed formamide. An intense band is observed at 3629 cm-1, attributed to the inner surface hydroxyls hydrogen bonded to the formamide. Broad bands are observed at 3600 and 3639 cm-1, assigned to the inner surface hydroxyls, which are hydrogen bonded to the adsorbed water molecules. The hydroxyl-stretching band of the inner hydroxyl is observed at 3621 cm-1 in the Raman spectra of the CRTA-treated formamide-intercalated kaolinites. The results of thermal analysis show that the amount of intercalated formamide between the kaolinite layers is independent of the presence of water. Significant differences are observed in the CO stretching region between the adsorbed and intercalated formamide.