Joint action aesthetics

Abstract

Synchronized movement is a ubiquitous feature of dance and music performance. Much research into the evolutionary origins of these cultural practices has focused on why humans perform rather than watch or listen to dance and music. In this study, we show that movement synchrony among a group of performers predicts the aesthetic appreciation of live dance performances. We developed a choreography that continuously manipulated group synchronization using a defined movement vocabulary based on arm swinging, walking and running. The choreography was performed live to four audiences, as we continuously tracked the performers’ movements, and the spectators’ affective responses. We computed dynamic synchrony among performers using cross recurrence analysis of data from wrist accelerometers, and implicit measures of arousal from spectators’ heart rates. Additionally, a subset of spectators provided continuous ratings of enjoyment and perceived synchrony using tablet computers. Granger causality analyses demonstrate predictive relationships between synchrony, enjoyment ratings and spectator arousal, if audiences form a collectively consistent positive or negative aesthetic evaluation. Controlling for the influence of overall movement acceleration and visual change, we show that dance communicates group coordination via coupled movement dynamics among a group of performers. Our findings are in line with an evolutionary function of dance–and perhaps all performing arts–in transmitting social signals between groups of people. Human movement is the common denominator of dance, music and theatre. Acknowledging the time-sensitive and immediate nature of the performer-spectator relationship, our study makes a significant step towards an aesthetics of joint actions in the performing arts.

The Choreography of Group Affiliation

“…Large–scale synchronous behavior—marching, dancing, or singing—can enthuse, inspire, mesmerize, or frighten, and has been part of rituals and traditions across the world over centuries (Haidt, Seder, & Kesebir, ; Vicary et al., ). Rituals bind people together (Whitehouse & Lanman, ), emphasizing group membership and commitment to the group (McNeill, ), as well as facilitating cooperation (Watson‐Jones & Legare, ).…”

“…We also provide a more detailed description and discussion of these tasks in the context of dance aesthetics in Vicary et al. (), including video examples.…”

“…This setup differs substantially from those real‐life situations in which behavioral coordination emerges spontaneously, unintentionally, and without external guidance such as when commuters are navigating their way through the tube system. Applying principles from dance and choreography (Vicary, Sperling, von Zimmermann, Richardson, & Orgs, ), we were interested in studying such emergent behavioral coordination, in the absence of explicit instructions to synchronize, or an external signal guiding movement.…”

Audience spontaneous entrainment during the collective enjoyment of live performances: physiological and behavioral measurements

“…Among the different levels at which synchrony can occur, cardiac synchrony is our primary candidate to be investigated, because autonomic responses are key substrates of emotional experience [30][31][32] . Moreover, spontanous autonomic reactions are extremely common in responses to art [33][34][35] . To accomplish our goal, we recruited 12 quartets of spectators, each of which attended two live performances (monologues) played by one out of 12 actors.…”

Musik: Von der Koordination zur Kooperation

“…Mittlerweile liegt eine ganze Reihe von Studien zu den Auswirkungen von synchronem Handeln vor (2,8,10,14) Eine Metaanalyse von 60 Experimenten ergab einen Effekt von 49% mehr prosozialer Einstellung und 45% mehr prosozialem Handeln (12).…”