Hybrid Movement Training During the Pandemic: A Clash Between Physical and Digital Realm

Abstract

This ethnographic research was conducted in one of the physical training institutions that offer the Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies (LBMS) certification program in Berlin in 2021. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the training was held in a hybrid format in which some participants were in the studio, and others were attending remotely via Zoom. Zoom-mediated movement training for long hours revealed how the intervention of telematic technologies challenged practitioners’ sensorial experience and sense-making process. Moreover, bringing co-located and remote participants’ experiences together in the hybrid setting disclosed different modes of interaction dynamics in the studio and online. Overall, participants described their hybrid experience as a clash. In the article, starting from unfolding those clashes, I discuss ‘How does remote participation through telematics challenge participants’ sensorial experience?’, ‘What can and cannot be transmitted through online mediation?’ and ‘How does remote interaction through a telematic system (Zoom) affect the shared sense-making process in the hybrid format setting?’.