Creative Computing and the Re-Configuration of Dance Ontology

Abstract

This paper assesses the impact of the Choreographic Language Agent and the Digital Dance Archives on dance ontology. Enhanced visualisation-afforded by digital technology-impacts on the essential ontological features of dance, such as ephememerality and the human body. Referring to the work of Nelson Goodman (1968) and Martin Heidegger (1977), I discuss the significance of creative programming for dance, asking what such tools reveal about the ontology of the form and existing concepts of movement, notation and embodiment.

Algorithmic reflections on choreography

“…Zeynep Gündüz took an optimistic stance with respect to this challenge and highlighted the unique opportunity that technology provides for creating either a dialogue or a confrontation between aspects of corporality and incorporeality and thereby enables a renegotiation and reinterpretation of the human body (Gündüz, 2008). Hetty Blades (2012) extended this discussion in that she not only considered elements of corporality but also discussed the relocation of movement intentionality away from the human body and into software. Furthermore, Blades questioned the role of ephemerality in view of the abundance of digital recordings of performances.…”

Conceptual and experiential dance languages

“…We are aware of the fact that no matter how much detail one can add to a Labanotation score what he gets might be a detailed useful representation, but this is still a script [29,70] about the choreography. It is not the performance, but only a description or a prescription of it.…”

“…This is why this translation is very challenging. On the other hand the goal of interpreting Labanotation into XML, RDF, OWL or any other semantic computer language is not to substitute the work of notators, and dance experts [29,208], is to create tools that enhance and enable the communication between one form of digital dance descriptions and another [37].…”