Information Technology and the Arts: The Evolution of Computer Choreography during the Last Half Century

Abstract

This article explores the history of the relations between computer science, information technology, and the art of dance. In the early years of computer choreography, scientists envisaged the development of visual displays and software tools to help in choreographic design. They used random number generators to create a variety of spatial displacements and body movements for the dancers—work that suggested that computer programs could be customized to suit the preferences of the individual choreographer. Such projections fell woefully short of what a large number of choreographers, computer scientists, digital artists, and professionals from different fields eventually achieved during the last half-century, not to mention what we might expect in the future. The convergence of dance creation and performance with advances in information science and technology constitutes a privileged ground on which to explore deep philosophical implications of our embodied mind.