Antecedentes artísticos de la danza "contact improvisation": visiones educativas de los "contacters"

Esta investigación tiene como objeto realizar un estudio de la danza Contact Improvisation (en adelante CI), teniendo en cuenta los antecedentes artísticos; considerar las visiones educativas de los contacters (personas que practican CI); y valorar las posibilidades de la danza CI, considerándola como herramienta útil para la educación. El CI es un envolvente sistema de movimiento iniciado en 1972 por el coreógrafo americano Steve Paxton. Una danza improvisada que se basa en la comunicación entre dos cuerpos que están en contacto y combinan la relación con las leyes físicas que gobiernan el movimiento – gravedad, impulso e inercia. La inquietud de encontrar nuevos caminos que ayuden al desarrollo de una educación más integral partiendo de procesos diferentes a los habituales, es lo que ha motivado este estudio; para ello, se pretende utilizar formas artísticas que aboguen y fomenten la libertad, la sensibilidad y la comunicación de forma creativa. En concreto, buscamos en el CI aspectos que sean favorables para una educación que, a diferencia de la educación reglada, le dé más importancia al desarrollo de la inteligencia emocional...

La communication comme élément constitutif de l'improvisation organisationnelle

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

La communication comme élément constitutif de l'improvisation organisationnelle

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

What’s the score? Using scores in dance improvisation

This paper explores the use of scores or verbal propositions inimprovising dance. Examining my use of scores in my own improvisationpractice it discusses what scores might be and might do and how theyrelate to the real time composition of dance in the present of its making.To help explore these ideas I refer to the theory of Nelson Goodman anddiscuss the use of scores by other dance practitioners including StevePaxton, Yvonne Meier and Anna Halprin.

Trajectories of intensity. Looking at structured improvisation in 'the weight of the thing left its mark'

This article examines the intentions and implications of ‘structured improvisation’ in relation to my work 'The weight of the thing left its mark' performed in Melbourne in April 2009. The performance piece is premised on the dancers maintaining a performance improvisation practice but to frame these and add predetermined context as a choreographic overlay. In so doing the aim was to create spaces within the work where improvisation could authentically exist while striving for a definable and repeatable ‘work’. The presentation will examine some of the complexities and difficulties inherent in this aim and grapples with the different expectations and conflicts that exist between performance improvisation and choreography.

Improvisation in visual art practice using a photographic process

In this article I discuss how I have come to understand embodied processes in my visual art practice using photography. I danced professionally for 25 years and performed in various contexts including classical ballet repertoire, contemporary dance, and commercial dance. I choreographed for various productions working with a group of dancers for seven years before studying visual art. I experienced a particular sense of embodiment as a live performer in which prescribed movements were learnt, performed and repeated as if second nature. Transitioning into a conceptually based visual art practice the creative process was flipped around. Using painting, sculpture, performance (in a different context) and photographic methods I explored ideas from which forms such as video/audio installations, photography, performance art and painting emerged mostly in a gallery context. Although I still think of forms of movement as content, in a visual art practise the idea or concept invokes form.

The Movement between: Dance improvisation, witnessing and participatory performance.

This was a practice-based project which extended the possibilities for dance improvisation in performance. The project engaged questions about how live performance is constituted, about what the roles of the dancer and audience might entail, and about how a community of common experience can develop through a responsive exchange between its participants.

A participatory design agenda for ubiquitous computing : a case study in dental practice

This paper reflects upon our attempts to bring a participatory design approach to design research into interfaces that better support dental practice. The project brought together design researchers, general and specialist dental practitioners, the CEO of a dental software company and, to a limited extent, dental patients. We explored the potential for deployment of speech and gesture technologies in the challenging and authentic context of dental practices. The paper describes the various motivations behind the project, the negotiation of access and the development of the participant relationships as seen from the researchers' perspectives. Conducting participatory design sessions with busy professionals demands preparation, improvisation, and clarity of purpose. The paper describes how we identified what went well and when to shift tactics. The contribution of the paper is in its description of what we learned in bringing participatory design principles to a project that spanned technical research interests, commercial objectives and placing demands upon the time of skilled professionals.

¡Latin jazz! : a syncretic journey from Spain, Cuba, the United States and back

The creative work, ¡Latin Jazz! is a 50 minute radio documentary to be broadcast on ABC Classic FM. It looks at the evolution of Latin jazz from Spain, Cuba and the United States. It examines the social effects on the style and specifically on the syncretic movement between the countries. The documentary traces my travel to Madrid, Spain and looks at Latin jazz through a deconstruction of the style, musical examples and interviews with prominent artists. Artists interviewed were Chano Domínguez, a Spanish flamenco jazz pianist, Bobby Martínez an American saxophonist, Alain Pérez a Cuban bassist and Pepe Rivero a Cuban pianist. The exegesis supports the radio documentary by examining the style in more depth, and is broken into three main sections. First it traces the historical relationship that occurred through the Ida y Vuelta (To and Fro), the similarities and influences through the habanera, the decíma and the religion of Santería. This is followed by specific musical elements within Latin jazz such as instrumentation, clave, harmony and improvisation, whilst the third section looks at the influences of the new syncretic movement back to Spain.

Do androids dream of electric chimera?

This paper describes the use of the Chimera Architecture as the basis for a generative rhythmic improvisation system that is intended for use in ensemble contexts. This interactive soft- ware system learns in real time based on an audio input from live performers. The paper describes the components of the Chimera Architecture including a novel analysis engine that uses prediction to robustly assess the rhythmic salience of the input stream. Analytical results are stored in a hierarchical structure that includes multiple scenarios which allow ab- stracted and alternate interpretations of the current metrical context. The system draws upon this Chimera Architecture when generating a musical response. The generated rhythms are intended to have a particular ambiguity in relation to the music performance by other members of the ensemble. Ambi- guity is controlled through alternate interpretations of the Chimera. We describe an implementation of the Chimera Ar- chitecture that focuses on rhythmic material, and present and discuss initial experimental results of the software system playing along with recordings of a live performance.

Eco-structure data forms : classification of data analysis using perceived design affordances for musical outcomes

This paper explores a method of comparative analysis and classification of data through perceived design affordances. Included is discussion about the musical potential of data forms that are derived through eco-structural analysis of musical features inherent in audio recordings of natural sounds. A system of classification of these forms is proposed based on their structural contours. The classifications include four primitive types; steady, iterative, unstable and impulse. The classification extends previous taxonomies used to describe the gestural morphology of sound. The methods presented are used to provide compositional support for eco-structuralism.

TraSe algorithm : automatic evolutionary morphing of electronic dance music

The TraSe (Transform-Select) algorithm has been developed to investigate the morphing of electronic music through automatically applying a series of deterministic compositional transformations to the source, guided towards a target by similarity metrics. This is in contrast to other morphing techniques such as interpolation or parameters or probabilistic variation. TraSe allows control over stylistic elements of the music through user-defined weighting of numerous compositional transformations. The formal evaluation of TraSe was mostly qualitative and occurred through nine participants completing an online questionnaire. The music generated by TraSe was generally felt to be less coherent than a human composed benchmark but in some cases judged as more creative.

A brush with the real world : the future of inertial motion capture in live performance

3D Motion capture is a medium that plots motion, typically human motion, converting it into a form that can be represented digitally. It is a fast evolving field and recent inertial technology may provide new artistic possibilities for its use in live performance. Although not often used in this context, motion capture has a combination of attributes that can provide unique forms of collaboration with performance arts. The inertial motion capture suit used for this study has orientation sensors placed at strategic points on the body to map body motion. Its portability, real-time performance, ease of use, and its immunity from line-of-sight problems inherent in optical systems suggest it would work well as a live performance technology. Many animation techniques can be used in real-time. This research examines a broad cross-section of these techniques using four practice-led cases to assess the suitability of inertial motion capture to live performance. Although each case explores different visual possibilities, all make use of the performativity of the medium, using either an improvisational format or interactivity among stage, audience and screen that would be difficult to emulate any other way. A real-time environment is not capable of reproducing the depth and sophistication of animation people have come to expect through media. These environments take many hours to render. In time the combination of what can be produced in real-time and the tools available in a 3D environment will no doubt create their own tree of aesthetic directions in live performance. The case study looks at the potential of interactivity that this technology offers.