A thesis submitted for the Masters of Arts by Research At the University of Bedfordshire, United KingdomThis thesis presents a phenomenological study exploring the practice of creating movement in live and virtual environments. The title of this study is Sensory Perception: Empowering dance embodiment through live and virtual environments. The aims of this study are: to experience the sensorial embodiment within live and virtual environments; and to understand the cognitive responses to a set of visual moving images that are mediated through the visual perception of the participant.
This study was conducted by the author Lucie Lee in 2012-2013 at the University of Bedfordshire. The theoretical underpinning for this study used mainly two French phenomenological philosophers Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1859-1941) and Henri Louis Bergeson (1908-1961). This thesis discusses other cultural theories, which were contextualised in theoretical and practical approaches to this study such as post-modernism in dance, Liveness defined by Philip Auslander (1999) and Embodying theory (1998) described by Sarah Rubidge. The other component of this practice led research focuses on cognitive science. This study uses the software developed by Mark Coniglio founder of Troika Ranch Dance Company, call Isadora. This software provides the level of interaction needed for this study. Although the software was developed for creative application of technology in performance, in this investigation it acts as a research tool. Through the software’s applications the explorative creative tasks were interactive and utilised in the live and virtual environments.
This practice-led research adopts the methodology of practice as research and an approach developed by performance theorist Professor Robin Nelson (2006). It also draws on the improvisatory processes of two American dancers and practitioners Alma Hawkins (1991) and Anna Halprin (1995). The improvisation technique deployed in this study is directly linked to Feldenkrais Method (1972). The explorative tasks were practically undertaken by a dancer in order to explore the role of sensory perception with improvisatory context. Wassily Kandinsky’s (1866-1984) works were used as a stimulus within this method to engage the performer in the use of colours and objects within creative tasks.
In conclusion, the thesis highlights the importance of the development within the practice-led process of the processes and methods undertaken by the researcher and dancer. The summary of findings of this research created several practical improvisatory short scores with ten minute durations. The future developments of this research study are outlined in this conclusion chapter
