Improvisation in dance with technological mediation: An investigation through studies of situation cognition

Situated cognition, which understands the subject and its cognition as mutually involved with the environment, is a key pillar of embodied cognition. Dance, particularly improvisation, exemplifies situated cognition by constructing conceptual systems where movement emerges from real-time actions and reactions to stimuli. Unlike choreographed dance, improvisation training sharpens dancers' perception and sensorimotor knowledge. In improvisational dances mediated by digital technologies, new semantic layers, spatiotemporal relations, and interaction possibilities emerge between dancers and their computational devices. Using concepts of embodiment, enaction, actionism, and empathy, the article addresses the notion of presence in these systems, considering technologically mediated dance as a cognitive artifact and empathy as a condition for interaction between physical and virtual bodies.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Situated cognition seems to be one of the relevant pillars in the literature on embodied cognition: a matter of understanding the subject and its cognition in involved and mutual manner. This is a continuous process in which the flow of information affects the body, the world, and the very process of engagement. Dance should be deemed as situated cognition. Thus, assuming that contextual interdependence, one can confirm that improvisation in dance constructs specific conceptual system processes in which movement emerges from actions and reactions from stimuli promoted, systematically, in real time. Unlike pre-determined situations (such as dances created through choreography), training for dance improvisation gives priority to sharpening the dancers’ perception for action in terms of preparing them with good sensorimotor knowledge. The analytical focus of this article engages in the area of improvisational dances performed in sensitive environments mediated by digital technologies. In those contexts, new semantic layers, other levels of spatiotemporal relations, and different possibilities of interaction between the group of dancers and between them and their own computational devices emerge. Through concepts such as embodiment, enaction, actionism, and empathy, we are interested in addressing the notion of presence in systems of improvisation in dance in that context. In order to do that, we consider dance with technological mediation as a cognitive artifact and empathy as one of the conditions for interaction between dancers and their relationship between physical and virtual bodies.