Spectators’ aesthetic experiences of sound and movement in dance performance

In this paper we present a study of spectators’ aesthetic experiences of sound and movement in live dance performance. A multidisciplinary team comprising a choreographer, neuroscientists and qualitative researchers investigated the effects of different sound scores on dance spectators. What would be the impact of auditory stimulation on kinesthetic experience and/or aesthetic appreciation of the dance? What would be the effect of removing music altogether, so that spectators watched dance while hearing only the performers’ breathing and footfalls? We investigated audience experience through qualitative research, using post-performance focus groups, while a separately conducted functional brain imaging (fMRI) study measured the synchrony in brain activity across spectators when they watched dance with sound or breathing only. When audiences watched dance accompanied by music the fMRI data revealed evidence of greater intersubject synchronisation in a brain region consistent with complex auditory processing. The audience research found that some spectators derived pleasure from finding convergences between two complex stimuli (dance and music). The removal of music and the resulting audibility of the performers’ breathing had a significant impact on spectators’ aesthetic experience. The fMRI analysis showed increased synchronisation among observers, suggesting greater influence of the body when interpreting the dance stimuli. The audience research found evidence of similar corporeally focused experience. The paper discusses possible connections between the findings of our different approaches, and considers the implications of this study for interdisciplinary research collaborations between arts and sciences

Designing for Ballet Classes: Identifying and Mitigating Communication Challenges Between Dancers and Teachers

Dancer-teacher communication in a ballet class can be challenging: ballet is one of the most complex forms of movements, and learning happens through multi-faceted interactions with studio tools (mirror, barre, and floor) and the teacher. We conducted an interview-based qualitative study with seven ballet teachers and six dancers followed by an open-coded analysis to explore the communication challenges that arise while teaching and learning in the ballet studio. We identified key communication issues, including adapting to multi-level dancer expertise, transmitting and realigning development goals, providing personalized corrections and feedback, maintaining the state of flow, and communicating how to properly use tools in the environment. We discuss design implications for crafting technological interventions aimed at mitigating these communication challenges

An information assistant system for the prevention of tunnel vision in crisis management

In the crisis management environment, tunnel vision is a set of bias in decision makers’ cognitive process which often leads to incorrect understanding of the real crisis situation, biased perception of information, and improper decisions. The tunnel vision phenomenon is a consequence of both the challenges in the task and the natural limitation in a human being’s cognitive process. An information assistant system is proposed with the purpose of preventing tunnel vision. The system serves as a platform for monitoring the on-going crisis event. All information goes through the system before arrives at the user. The system enhances the data quality, reduces the data quantity and presents the crisis information in a manner that prevents or repairs the user’s cognitive overload. While working with such a system, the users (crisis managers) are expected to be more likely to stay aware of the actual situation, stay open minded to possibilities, and make proper decisions

Dalcroze meets technology : integrating music, movement and visuals with the Music Paint Machine

peer reviewedNew interactive music educational technologies are often seen as a ‘force of change’, introducing new approaches that address the shortcomings (e.g. score-based, teacher-centred and disembodied) of the so-called traditional teaching approaches. And yet, despite the growing belief in their educational potential, these new technologies have been problematised with regard to their design, reception, implementation and evaluation. A possible way to optimise the realisation of the educational potential of interactive music educational technologies is to connect their use to music educational approaches that stood the test of time and as such may inspire technologies to become a bridge between tradition and innovation. This article describes an educational technology (the Music Paint Machine) that integrates the creative use of movement and visualisation to support instrumental music teaching and learning. Next, it connects this application to such an established music educational method, the Dalcroze approach. Through the lens of a set of interconnected aspects, it is shown how the Music Paint Machine’s conceptual design aligns to the underlying principles of this approach. In this way, it is argued that integrating Dalcroze-inspired practices is a plausible way of realising the didactic potential of the system. An appendix with example exercises is provided

Learning, Arts, and the Brain: The Dana Consortium Report on Arts and Cognition

Reports findings from multiple neuroscientific studies on the impact of arts training on the enhancement of other cognitive capacities, such as reading acquisition, sequence learning, geometrical reasoning, and memory

Repository Model for Intangible Heritage “The Malay Scenario”

Culture heritage is identity of country, community and group of people. Intangible culture is a common practice, in the community. Continuously  re-created and transmitted. However, culture can only have continuity if people enjoy the conditions to produce and re-created.  This paper try to identify the factor of contributing archiving intangible heritage before develop a model as a guideline to archive culture heritage especially intangible heritage via ICT exploitation. This standard model as a kick-start of intangible study and also as guidelines for culture institution in Malaysia to archiving their intangible heritage and make it available for other researcher and the future generation

Learning outcome dependency on contemporary ICT in the New Zealand middle school classroom

Often studies of children's technology use in the classroom is internally focused and small scale. This study attempts a globalised exploratory overview of an entire New Zealand middle school to understand the technology usages across a range of curriculum and learning outcomes. Observations of the use of technology in the classroom during eight different lessons were conducted followed by structured-open-ended interviews. From our classroom observations and through teacher interviews, we have been able to identify three levels of the dependency of learning outcome on contemporary-ICT

Audio-Visual Feedback for Self-monitoring Posture in Ballet Training

An application for ballet training is presented that monitors the posture position (straightness of the spine and rotation of the pelvis) deviation from the ideal position in real-time. The human skeletal data is acquired through a Microsoft Kinect v2. The movement of the student is mirrored through an abstract skeletal figure and instructions are provided through a virtual teacher. Posture deviation is measured in the following way: Torso misalignment is calculated by comparing hip center joint, shoulder center joint and neck joint position with an ideal posture position retrieved in an initial calibration procedure. Pelvis deviation is expressed as the xz-rotation of the hip-center joint. The posture deviation is sonified via a varying cut-off frequency of a high-pass filter applied to floating water sound. The posture deviation is visualized via a curve and a rigged skeleton in which the misaligned torso parts are color-coded. In an experiment with 9-12 year-old dance students from a ballet school, comparing the audio-visual feedback modality with no feedback leads to an increase in posture accuracy (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 1.047). Reaction card feedback and expert interviews indicate that the feedback is considered fun and useful for training independently from the teacher