Dialogue in dance studies research. Dialogue in dance studies research

In writing this paper, we-Jill Crosby and Ann Dils-render into text six years of sporadic dialogues. Through our explanation and examination of the 1994 movement analysis and description project that began our exchanges and discussion of subsequent readings, we hope to explore important aspects of dance studies research. Our use and understanding of Labanbased movement analysis as a tool for understanding movement as it is felt and observed, awareness of concepts of dialogue and the dialogical process as potential frameworks, critical lenses, and theoretical bases for dance studies research, and adaptation of the interpretive paradigm to suit dance research are especially important to this exploration.1 Little of our text is written in dialogue form (Crosby:, Dils:); rather, we hope, by drawing examples from our project, Crosby's dissertation, and the works of other researchers, to capture the bubbling-up of understanding that stems from the cooperative and confrontational exchanges of dance studies research

Dance with Us: Virginia Tanner, Mormonism, and Humphrey's Utah Legacy.

Dance critic Walter Terry was in the audience the evening of Rosalind Pierson's last, glorious performance with Virginia Tanner's Children's Dance Theatre (CDT). In his review for the New York Herald Tribune of that July 1953 Jacob's Pillow performance, Terry discussed the girls' connections to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, described the outdoor performance setting, the program, and the children as "wonderfully disciplined yet gloriously free in movement.

The Ghost In The Machine: Merce Cunningham and Bill T. Jones

What is it that we value in a human image? One priority—evidenced by the work of home videographers—is to create a sense of nearness to loved ones and events by capturing as much information about people and their actions as possible. Other image-makers, particularly portraitists, hope to draw in the viewer, allowing her to flesh out an image with her own associations and imagination. To do this, portraitists pare away human attributes and environment to arrive at a representation of something essential, something telling about a person. I'm used to seeing spare images of human faces and bodies in sketches and black and white photographs. But what possibilities exist for portraits in which people are identified only by motion? Motion capture and animation technologies make it possible to create portraits of people that consist primarily of human motion, replacing identifiable bodies with more generic forms. Do these images work as portraits? What is the impact of leaving the body behind

What Constitutes a Dance?: Investigating the Constitutive Properties of Antony Tudor's Dark Elegies

These papers were originally given as a panel entitled What Constitutes a Dance at the 1989 Congress on Research in Dance Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia. Panelists selected Antony Tudor's 1937 Dark Elegies as a case study and basis for examining general questions regarding elements to be considered in identifying a dance work. Several issues and occurrences inspired panel members, such as recent interest in revivals of dance works from the beginning of this century and scholarly debate about issues related to directing dance from Labanotation scores. While Nelson Goodman's 1968 book Languages of Art served as a theoretical springboard for discussion, Judy Van Zile's 1985-86 article "What is the Dance? Implications for Dance Notation" proved a thought-provoking precedent for this investigation

Review of Doris Humphrey Technique: The Creative Potential, a videotape written, directed, and hosted by Ernestine Stodelle and Doris Humphrey: The Collected Works, Vol. 2, a compendium of Labanotated Scores

The video, Doris Humphrey Technique: The Creative Potential, begins with a good, very general introduction to Humphrey's work and ends with rarely seen reconstructions of early Humphrey solos and a duet. The video might be a nice way to introduce Humphrey in a dance history class or to round out your knowledge of her choreography. The central portion of the video, however, includes a discussion of using Humphrey technique as the impetus for new choreography that is best used by those with an in-depth knowledge of Humphrey's work. The book of Labanotation scores, Doris Humphrey: The Collected Works, Vol. 2, is best suited to those that read Labanotation, but also contains interesting, more easily deciphered information on the process of Labanotating dance scores. Both resources offer insights into the work of Humphrey expert Ernestine Stodelle

Review of Choreographing History, edited by Susan Foster.

Choreographing History, a collection of essays edited and introduced by Susan Leigh Foster, explores the pitfalls and possibilities inherent in writing about the body and its cultural emanations. Since its publication in 1995, I have used essays from the book to help dance graduate students push their thinking beyond the studio and their own physical experience and to realize the varied resources, approaches, and theoretical positions possible in writing about the body. The collection contains some excellent movement description and also theoretical language so dense as to obscure any communication of ideas

Out of Mind, Out of Sight: Language Affects Perceptual Vividness in Memory

We examined whether language affects the strength of a visual representation in memory. Participants studied a picture, read a story about the depicted object, and then selected out of two pictures the one whose transparency level most resembled that of the previously presented picture. The stories contained two linguistic manipulations that have been demonstrated to affect concept availability in memory, i.e., object presence and goal-relevance. The results show that described absence of an object caused people to select the most transparent picture more often than described presence of the object. This effect was not moderated by goal-relevance, suggesting that our paradigm tapped into the perceptual quality of representations rather than, for example, their linguistic availability. We discuss the implications of these findings within a framework of grounded cognition

Dancing with the Mouse: Format for the Future

Participants found a variety of pathways through Dancing with the Mouse, a conference sponsored by The National Dance Association of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and co-directed by Joanne (Jodi) Lunt and Keitha Manning. Dance concerts, technique classes, visits to local schools, as well as numerous sessions on dance and technology comprised the many conference activities. Our conference choices reflected a shared interest in understanding how the dance community currently uses technology, at least as shown at this conference, and in formulating some useful questions about the impact of technology on dance practices. Lisa Naugle (LN) comes to this process as a leading member of the fast-growing dance and technology community and an invited conference presenter. Her research interests include investigation of online methods for choreography, plus the use of motion capture and digital image processing in dance performance. Ann Dils (AD), a dance historian who writes about web-based performance and virtual dance, attended the conference as part of her research

Neuroaesthetics and beyond: New horizons in applying the science of the brain to the art of dance

Contains fulltext : 102731.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Throughout history, dance has maintained a critical presence across all human cultures, defying barriers of class, race, and status. How dance has synergistically co-evolved with humans has fueled a rich debate on the function of art and the essence of aesthetic experience, engaging numerous artists, historians, philosophers, and scientists. While dance shares many features with other art forms, one attribute unique to dance is that it is most commonly expressed with the human body. Because of this, social scientists and neuroscientists are turning to dance and dancers to help answer questions of how the brain coordinates the body to perform complex, precise, and beautiful movements. In the present paper, we discuss how recent advances in neuroscientific methods provide the tools to advance our understanding of not only the cerebral phenomena associated with dance learning and observation but also the neural underpinnings of aesthetic appreciation associated with watching dance. We suggest that future work within the fields of dance neuroscience and neuroaesthetics have the potential to provide mutual benefits to both the scientific and artistic communities.12 p