Dance Score Research Articles

Design of innovative teaching methods for classical dance based on group intelligence

Abstract Compared with image records, 3D dance scores can realize the demonstration and practice of classical dance teaching more accurately and efficiently. In this paper, the Li group skeletal representation model is used for Li algebra space mapping processing to learn action feature data, classify them, and complete classical dance action feature extraction. Then, the residual network model is used as the backbone network to construct a two-stream spatiotemporal residual network for action recognition by using two different temporal spans and fusing the results of the two-channel networks through side connections. Finally, the group intelligence algorithm group intelligence algorithm ACOR-SGD is designed to optimize the parameters of the convolutional neural network, and then the dance score generation model is integrated into the design of the innovative teaching method of classical dance for the application of the professional teaching of classical dance in colleges and universities. There is basically no significant difference between the pre-test scores of the experimental and control classes. After one semester of applying the innovative teaching method based on the generation of dance scores, the scores of the experimental class in the five items of basic pace mastery, movement fluency, stage presence, technical quality, and coordination of the music rhythm were improved by 4.6, 4, 4.28, 3.63, and 4.72 respectively, and the total score of 81.54 was much higher than that of the control class of 60.57 points posttest scores, and all were significant at the 0.01 level. This study explores innovatively and provides an effective path for integrating dance teaching with cutting-edge information technology, thus improving the quality and efficiency of dance teaching.

Development and Innovation of Chinese Classical Dance Teaching Mode in the Background of Internet

Abstract Since the development of Chinese classical dance, its dance technology and dance skills have been maturing for a long time, but the innovation and development of classical dance teaching mode needs to be improved. In this paper, OptiTrack is used to capture the dance movement data of classical dancers, transform the data into three-dimensional coordinates, and extract the features of classical dance data through direction normalization. The Hidden Markov Model obtains the time series information in the features and constructs the correlation model. Using the skeletal model data to get the center of mass of the human body, the convolution-gated recurrent unit network structure is used to improve the accuracy of the classical dance score generation results. Combining the above methods, a new teaching model framework for classical dance is proposed from three aspects and empirically analyzed. The empirical results show that the mean value of each dimension of classical dance teachers’ teaching ability ranges from 3.4562-4.3621, which is an excellent overall performance. In the comparison between students’ classical dance movements and standard movements, there existed higher scores than traditional movements in the two time periods within 20 minutes, which were 30 and 5 points higher than the conventional scores, respectively. The rest of the time was slightly lower than the regular movements, which shows that the innovation effect of classical dance teaching is better, and optimizes students’ classical dance movements to a certain extent.

An Analysis of the Application of Motion Capture Technology in the Creation of Contemporary Dance with the Integration of Fibonacci Sequences

Abstract This paper combines the existing development of Fibonacci sequence aesthetics in art creation for the aesthetic planning of the Fibonacci sequence on music rhythm, proposes to design a new modern dance creation method by combining the diversified rotation methods of the Fibonacci sequence, and builds a process framework for generating Fibonacci sequence dance score based on motion capture. The wavelet transform is employed to determine the start of the dance movement, and the gradient descent algorithm is utilized to analyze the time coordinates and refine the dance movement. Recognize the segmented elemental action sequences using the DTW method, propose three basic actions from the dataset, and test the recognition rate of the DTW algorithm for each action. Generate a Fibonacci sequence dance score by combining human gestures. Combined with the research scoring, analyze the artistic talent of the Fibonacci sequence-generated dance. According to the data results, it can be seen that the action feature vector of the two-handed waving image is P=[0.8968, 0.9925, 0.9124, 1.0243, 1.0198, 1.2438, 1.4596, 1.3698, 1.5868, 1.6596, 1.5029] with 98.67% of the two-handed waving recognition rate (with a standard deviation of 0.25). The evaluation of Fibonacci sequence generation dance by research users tends to be moderate.

José Limón's Chaconne

Abstract: In 1942, choreographer José Limón created a solo for himself to J. S. Bach's "Chaconne" for solo violin, the last movement of Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor BWV 1004. Many of Limón's works revolve around a central thematic narrative, often celebrating the majesty of the human spirit. In his Chaconne , however, Limón created an abstract movement representation of Bach's music, employing theme and variation as a stylistic compositional device. Chaconne is not, however, devoid of connotative references, as certain gestures, shapes, and stances spark various associations. But these occasional veiled echoes of a literal scenario do not explain the continuing appeal of the work, which instead is attributed mainly to its impressively crafted choreographic design, the carefully built relationships it exhibits between dance and music, and the openness and interpretative flexibility it offers as a vehicle for empowering the dancer. Limón intended the dance to reflect the meaning of the music, not strictly a visualization of the music, though it does have its share of such music-dance matches. The dance partakes in certain aspects of the music's form and structure, utilizing similar or parallel compositional design and techniques and following and countering the music's phrasing, melodic contour, and rhythms. Some of the congruences are obvious and satisfying, such as the many four-measure aaab dance phrases joined to equivalent four-measure aaab phrases of Bach's music. Some of the music-dance congruences are more subtle, such as extended physical movements riding ascending and descending musical scales. This choreographic focus on melodic contour draws attention to how Bach pairs ascent and descent, or chordal arpeggiation and stepwise scalar runs, across pairs of four-measure sequences. Separate from, but hand in hand with, its relationship to the music, the dance also has its own shape. Limón conceived of the material as developing from "a seminal dance phrase from which the entire work would flow." He did not elaborate on that phrase or how it evolves throughout the work. Still, generations of dancers in his namesake company have contributed to and accumulated a treasure trove of observations about and interpretations of Limón's solo, and how it relates to the music—and this cache may be usefully consulted. A choreomusical analysis of the dance incorporating the insights of dancers reveals how Limón developed the steps, gestures, positions, and phrases of his material; what musical relationships are pertinent to dancing it; how choreographic variation structures the dance; and how the dance illuminates aspects of design in the music. In particular, a principle of diminution pervades the design of the dance and the music; material is repeated in some way in faster or in smaller units, thus accelerating one's experience of, and increasing the tension in, a performance. However, such analysis can only be tentative, its conclusions temporary. There is no agreed-upon original or definitive dance score. Multiple versions exist on video and in the company's collective memory. Various dancers perform the dance differently. Furthermore, it is a living, growing artwork, as each new performer brings their individual experience to bear upon their performance—an artistic stance encouraged by Limón's conceptualization of his dance as a score open to each dancer's interpretation.

Reflections on Rhythm Control in the Stage Performance Process of Dancers

Abstract The article proposes a dance score generation model based on the graph attention model and Transformer, which first preprocesses the stage motion capture data of dancers, utilizes a multi-scale attention network to realize motion feature aggregation, and introduces the gated loop unit in the Transformer model to enhance the recognition accuracy of dance movements. Based on the recognition of the dancer’s stage movements, the skeleton size normalization is performed on the joints of the dancer’s gestures, and the skeleton replacement method is combined to realize the correction of the dance movements. Next, we test the model’s dance score generation effect, the matching accuracy of dance movements and music rhythm, and evaluate and analyze the quality of dance movement correction. The results show that the Former model in this paper scores 8.33% higher in beat consistency than the traditional dance generation model Bailando, and the matching coefficient of the rhythmic intensity of the generated dance is basically the same as that of the original dance, with a difference of only 0.02-0.06. It shows that the rhythmic control of the stage performance of dancers carried out by the Transformer model can enhance the stage performance power of dancers and strengthen their stage performance. It shows that using the Transformer model to control the rhythm of dancers’ stage performances can improve the stage performance of dancers and enhance the viewability of stage performances.

Marking the moment: Documenting dance in coloured water, flesh, sand and charcoal

This article discusses interdisciplinary methods for recalling and documenting the somatic knowledges derived from movement (such as dance movement). The article explores the research-as-practice interdisciplinary activity of Concrete-Water-Flesh at Deptford, a set of three structured improvisational dance scores carried out on the sand by the River Thames at Deptford, United Kingdom in 2020 and 2021. During Concrete-Water-Flesh at Deptford, I, Helen Kindred and some fellow dancers (forming DancingStrong Movement Lab Company) moved across the sand at the river’s edge, while fine artists (including Andrew Hinton, Mary Rodriguez and Nina Anderson) moved across paper, drawing us using elements from the shore (the sandy sludge, charcoal from burnt beach debris, and water). In the moment of dance, the marks of our movements (such as on sand or on paper) offered a documentation of the somatic experience of Concrete-Water-Flesh at Deptford. I suggest the collaboration of Concrete-Water-Flesh at Deptford raises possibilities for, and further questions about, documenting and languaging the embodied.

Comparisons Of Anthropometric And Fitness Evaluations To Skill Level In Collegiate Dancers

Collegiate dancers are oftentimes critiqued by their body composition and visual appearance. Having a lean physique and strong physical fitness is expected within the dance industry. To date, no studies have been conducted on the effects physical fitness has on the skill of a collegiate dancer in Pom, Hip-Hop, and Cheer routines. PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between a dancer’s fitness and their execution of technical dance skills throughout various routines. METHODS: Collegiate dancers (N = 13) completed nineteen anthropometric and fitness evaluations (mean ± SD). The tests were height (1.64 ± 0.05 m), weight (59.09 ± 6.00 kg), body mass index (22.4 ± 1.73 kg/m²), percent body fat (27.27 ± 6.37 %), skeletal muscle mass (23.45 ± 2.79 kg), body fat mass (16.24 ± 4.64 kg), waist circumference (67.92 ± 3.63 cm), hip circumference (89.48 ± 15.39 cm), left and right leg length (88.7 ± 4.81 cm; 87.9 ± 4.64 cm), sit and reach (45.8 ± 4.05 cm), external hip rotation for left and right leg (27.6 ± 9.51 cm; 27.7 ± 11.05 cm), hip abduction for left and right leg (47.6 ± 8.89 cm; 48.2 ± 9.2 cm), Star Excursion Test for left and right leg (30.25 ± 2.11 cm; 30.43 ± 2.21 cm) Functional Movement Screen (19.15 ± 1.63), vertical jump (39.95 ± 7.01 cm), grip strength for left and right hand (22.77 ± 5.47 kg; 23.69 ± 3.59 kg), passe releve for left and right leg (3.33 ± 2.54 sec; 3.47 ± 3.62 sec), Wingate (636.77 ± 99.87 W), push-ups (34.15 ± 8.18), and sit-ups (40.77 ± 8.86). Once anthropometric and fitness evaluations were completed, participants were scored from different judges on three routines; Pom, Hip-Hop, and Cheer. RESULTS: Through further evaluation of the Star Excursion Test, the anterolateral movement negatively correlated with scores for Pom, Hip-Hop, and Cheer routines. No other relationships were observed between any other variables. CONCLUSIONS: A negative correlation between the anterolateral movement of ankle stability and the various routines suggests dancers with less anterolateral stability score higher than those with more anterolateral ankle stability. Although a decrease in ankle stability has been linked to injury, this study suggests that an increase in ankle stability may lead to lower dance scores.

Live coding choreography: real-time programming with Terpsicode

ABSTRACT This article aims to explore live coding of choreography as real time scoring of the dance performance it is creating. It will define live coding as a performance practice, and way of creating choreographic scores, as well as consider some forms of esoteric programming languages (esolangs) as forms of multicoding and explanations of text. It will then explore the work Terpsicode, a live coding language created to make choreography in real-time resulting in duets for coder and dancer and discuss the ways in which Terpsicode is used in performance by creating visual scores from dance terminology. Terpsicode is a demonstration not only of live coding choreography but of multicoding, allowing for both text and visuals to notate the dance score in real-time while the dancers are interpreting the score into movement.

Duets by Anna Karenina and Alexey Vronsky in the ballet by J. Neumeier's "Anna Karenina": features of the author's interpretation of the images of the main characters

This article continues the author's research devoted to the study of the problem of choreographic interpretations of literary works, in particular, John Neumeier's ballet "Anna Karenina". In this work, the identification of expressive staging means and choreographic elements used by Neumeier in the production of duets by Anna Karenina and Alexei Vronsky is carried out in order to determine the place of these choreographic fragments in the performance, as well as their significance for the author's interpretation of the images of the main characters of the novel by Leo Tolstoy. In the course of the research, the author applied comparative-historical, ideological-artistic and analytical methods, as well as the method of included observation (based on personal experience of working with Neumeier on Kitty's party). In the course of the source analysis, video materials from the archives of the Hamburg Ballettzentrum and the Moscow Bolshoi Theater were used, as well as lectures conducted by Neumeier before the Moscow premiere of Anna Karenina (recordings from the author's archive). A detailed analysis of the dance score of three duets by Anna and Vronsky revealed traditional and innovative author's solutions related to the new research results. So, Neumeier uses such staging means as the compilation of Tchaikovsky and Schnittke's music; the inclusion of symbolic images (a chair, a door, a bag) in the choreographic canvas; the appearance of other characters; the use of stage lighting to accentuate the transition from reality to the sphere of the subconscious; active choreographic development based on a technically saturated duet dance, replete with high supports in the neoclassical style, as well as acrobatic elements; semantic use of plastic quotations. It can be concluded that in order to develop the images and relationships of Anna Karenina and Alexey Vronsky, the choreographer chooses a duet as the dominant musical and choreographic form. Moreover, in his version of Anna Karenina, Neumeier makes three duets of the main characters a key component of the performance and the author's interpretation of the images of the main characters.

What's Safe

What’s Safe is an ongoing response to Toronto’s social distancing measures. It is a dance score documented cinematically in Trinity Bellwoods Park, with movements inspired by Deepa Iyer’s framework (Mapping Our Roles in Social Change Ecosystems, 2020) and Jay Pitter’s open letter to Canadian urbanists (A Call to Courage, 2020). The project was conceived, performed, and captured by the authors of this paper. The two dancers, our second and third authors, engage in creative problem-solving by facing the reality of socially-distant grounds for play and suggesting a different type of productivity, one which is conducive to individual and social growth. The movements are then captured by our multimedia creator (or fourth author), while our artist-researcher (first author) curates and provides critique throughout. The final project considers artistic practice in response to social change as informed by (un)productivity. It uses productive imagination (e.g., play, improvisation, creative problem-solving) to investigate parameters of safety (e.g., surveillance, control, space). Through the dancers’ improvisations, we attempt to navigate these tensions and better position ourselves in relation to our current socio-geographical circumstances.

Coming Together by Moving Apart: Contemporary Dance Scores and Communities During the Covid-19 Pandemic

This paper discusses Roof/Roof Piece, an adaptation of Trisha Brown's Roof Piece by Trisha Brown Dance Company and perch a dance made by Amy Voris and adapted by Voris and Katye Coe for Coe to perform in her home and online. Both these adaptations began during the Covid-19 pandemic, in contexts when the artists could not meet in person. I consider the role that the scores played in facilitating these shared practices, asking how they allowed for the development and continuation of bonds between members of dance communities during this period.

Rhythm-Aware Sequence-to-Sequence Learning for Labanotation Generation With Gesture-Sensitive Graph Convolutional Encoding

Labanotation is a professional dance notation system widely used in dance education and choreography preservation. Automatically generatingLabanotation dance scores from motion capture data can save a huge amount of manual time and effort. Recently, the sequence-to-sequence (seq2seq) model is applied to the automatic Labanotation generation. This model is based on an encoder-decoder structure, which encodes the input motion sequence to a fixed-length vector and then decodes it to generate the target sequence. However, the encoding of spatial skeleton structure of motion data is not considered in the existing work. Besides, it is challenging to align between the input motion data and the output Laban symbol sequences due to the severe imbalance of sequence lengths. Therefore, in this paper, we present a new seq2seq model for more effective Labanotation generation. In the encoder, we propose a new gesture-sensitive graph convolutional network with learned adaptive joint weights and non-physical connections to learn both spatial and temporal patterns from motion data sequences. In the decoder, we exploit motion rhythm information and propose a novel rhythm-aware attention mechanism to learn a good alignment between motion sequences and Laban symbol sequences, so that we can focus on relevant parts of the input motion sequence without searching in the whole sequence when predicting a target Laban symbol. Extensive experiments on two real-world datasets show that the proposed method achieves a better performance compared with the state-of-the-art approaches on the task of automatic Labanotation generation.

TanzArchivLeipzig – Disappearing Content and Traces of Past Events

The TanzArchiv Leipzig (TAL) presents itself as a precarious archive of dance that blossomed in dubious political times. It was founded when East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country during 1949–1990, in which art and culture were valued as national currency ( Bourdieu 1986 ; Lohman 1994 ). Although the archive had lost its domicile as an Institution of the GDR (1989) as part of a larger Institution of the Academy of Arts (Akademie der Kunst), then it continued to act as a research centre in the Institute of the House of Literature (Haus des Buches), then renting its own premises as a foundation thereafter (ca. 1993–2010) and finally, is currently stored since 2011 as the TAL collection in the Special Collections department in the Albertina Library, at the University of Leipzig ( Reinsberg 2002 ; Ruiz [2002] ; 2018). The archival collection embraces a large collection of ‘traces’ of dance content such as manuscripts, dance scores, film, sound and image artefacts as well as objects, publications and a variety of ephemera. However, its fate as an archive of a country that no longer exists, and the question of the preservation and circulation of its content make it an ambiguous and challenging dance archive to examine in full. In this article I will focus on the description and structure of the archive, the dissemination strategies Documenta Choreologica1and Kurt Petermann's passion for dance transmission, through his letter correspondence within and without East European countries during the Cold War ( Boehme 1948 ; Dafova 1996 ; Guilbert 2007 ).

Sources of Embodied Creativity: Interactivity and Ideation in Contact Improvisation.

Drawing on a micro-phenomenological paradigm, we discuss Contact Improvisation (CI), where dancers explore potentials of intercorporeal weight sharing, kinesthesia, touch, and momentum. Our aim is to typologically discuss creativity related skills and the rich spectrum of creative resources CI dancers use. This spectrum begins with relatively idea-driven creation and ends with interactivity-centered, fully emergent creation: (1) Ideation internal to the mind, the focus of traditional creativity research, is either restricted to semi-independent dancing or remains schematic and thus open to dynamic specification under the partner’s influence. (2) Most frequently, CI creativity occurs in tightly coupled behavior and is radically emergent. This means that interpersonal synergies emerge without anybody’s prior design or planned coordination. The creative feat is interpersonally “distributed” over cascades of cross-scaffolding. Our micro-genetic data validate notions from dynamic systems theory such as interpersonal self-organization, although we criticize the theory for failing to explain where precisely this leaves skilled intentionality on the individuals’ part. Our answer is that dancers produce a stream of momentary micro-intentions that say “yes, and”, or “no, but” to short-lived micro-affordances, which allows both individuals to skillfully continue, elaborate, tweak, or redirect the collective movement dynamics. Both dancers can invite emergence as part of their playful exploration, while simultaneously bringing to bear global constraints, such as dance scores, and guide the collective dynamics with a set of specialized skills we shall term emergence management.

Bravo! Using Library Dance Collections to Recreate Historical Ballets

ABSTRACTRecreating a kinesthetic art form is not easy. For ballets created in the modern age, film, videotape, and dance notation aid in the reconstruction. For historic masterworks, the process is akin to a detective story, as the dance reconstructors hunt for clues to the missing information. They comb through notated dance and music scores, choreographers’ notes, pictures, libretti, reviews, sketches, and eyewitness accounts. These archival materials are commonly housed in libraries’ special collections. The Jerome Robbins Dance Collection at the New York City Public Library for the Performing Arts is the foremost collection in the United States, but there are many other excellent collections, including at the Library of Congress and in university libraries. The authors explore one of the great reconstructions of the 20th century—Robert Joffrey’s remarkable 16-year effort to recreate Nijinsky’s lost choreography for the 1913 ballet The Rite of Spring.

Non-Finitoin Contemporary Dance Making

The affiliation of dance with the academy, which requires a written account and documentation of the process; the impact of the “digital age”; and the visual culture that facilitates the creation of online blogs and promotes projects such as William Forsythe's “choreographic objects” [Synchronous Objects(2009);Motion Bank(2010–2013)]; but also the economic depression, which restricts dance artists from arriving at their final products, might be some of the possible reasons that explain the shift towards the artistic status ofnon-finito, approached here as a creative process that also manifests through dance scores. However, what is clear so far is that since dance became less and less narrative, the sharing of process inside or outside academia started to increase rapidly, and the value of dance as product is being challenged.

Hacking Choreography: Dance and Live Coding

This article explores the intersection of live coding and choreography, discussing the “practice as research” project Hacking Choreography. It examines the use of computer programming languages within dance scores, the creation of scores in real time, and the transparency of these scores to the audience during performance. Four pieces created by the author are discussed in terms of these elements and compared to live-coding practices for computer music. Through this, not only does live coding emerge as a performance practice related to sound or visuals, but it also continues its trajectory as a transdisciplinary approach to live performance events.

Dancing the Score: Dance Notation andDifférance

This article moves towards an explanation of the kinds of meaning captured in dance notation, towards a critical reflection on linguistic accounts of meaning in dance, and towards a model of analysis that slips free from the dichotomy of theory versus practice, and its correlate of text versus experience. In following Derrida's argument about speech and writing, and through a re-reading of his account of the myth of Theuth, I suggest that dance notation sensuously illustrates the kind of binary-destabilising matter and movement that Derrida theorises variously as trace, différance, and arche-writing. Further, I propose that dance notation, in its relationship to theatrical dance, provides an exemplary, rather than a unique, textual practice: one which necessarily annihilates the old mind/body and speech/writing dualisms. While Derrida achieves this through elaborate, often mischievous, wordplay in his deconstructions, I reflect upon the etymology of choreography and choreology, upon the process of reading and writing a dance score, and upon the marginal status of notation within the dance field.

Illustrations and Nomenclature Stave for Dance Movements: What Visual Communication Can Do for Dance

This article concerns the application of visual communication to the process involved in reading Benesh Movement Notation, an important system for writing dance scores. The goal of this project was to complement Benesh Movement Notation with other visual information so that a score could be read even by ballet students not familiar with this notation. In order to do this, the authors have created a system of ballerina figures (L-W Illustrations for Dance) and a system of ciphers for ballet positions (L-W Nomenclature Stave).

Nijinsky's Faune restored: a study of Vaslav Nijinsky's 1915 dance score, L'apres-midi d'un faune and his dance notation system: revealed, translated into labanotation and annotated

Nijinsky's Faune restored: a study of Vaslav Nijinsky's 1915 dance score, L'apres-midi d'un faune and his dance notation system: revealed, translated into labanotation and annotated