Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T12:33:30.375Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Dance, Interactive Technology, and the Device Paradigm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2014

Abstract

Dance artists often suggest that working with interactive technology can produce the experience of bi-directionality in which the performer is perceptually aware of the manner in which movement directly produces changes in the performance environment. In addition, it is suggested that the performer can also become aware of the manner in which the technologies affect the dancer's performance. Drawing on phenomenology, some have argued that experiences of bi-directionality call for a reconsideration of the manner in which the moving body interacts with technological devices. I draw on Albert Borgmann's philosophy of technology to examine this approach and argue that it overlooks important issues concerning contextuality and the nature of the technological devices that are utilized in interactive performance.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Birringer, Johannes. 2004a. “Interactive Dance, the Body, and the Internet.” Journal of Visual Art Practice 3(3): 165–78.Google Scholar
Birringer, Johannes. 2004b. “Dance and Interactivity.” Dance Research Journal 35(2): 88111.Google Scholar
Birringer, Johannes. 2008. Performance, Technology, and Science. New York: PAJ Publications.Google Scholar
Birringer, Johannes. 2010. “Moveable worlds/Digital Scenographies.” International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media 6(1): 89107.Google Scholar
Borgmann, Albert. 1984. Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Borgmann, Albert. 1992. Crossing the Postmodern Divide. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borgmann, Albert. 2000. Holding on to Reality: The Nature of Information at the Turn of the Millennium. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
deLahunta, Scott. 2002. “Virtual Reality and Performance.” Performing Arts Journal 70: 105–14.Google Scholar
Dixon, Steve. 2007. Digital Performance: A History of New Media in Theater, Dance, Performance Art, and Installation. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Dunning, Jennifer. 2008. “Crossing the Border from Light to Human.” The New York Times, February 8. Accessed April 25, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/arts/dance/08chun.html?_r=1.Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin. 1971. “The Thing.” In Poetry, Language, Thought. Translated by Hofstadter, Albert. New York: Harper and Rowe, 165–86.Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin. 1982. The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Kozel, Susan. 2007. Closer: Performance, Technologies, Phenomenology. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Mackrell, Judith. 2008. “Dance Preview: Chunky Move: Mortal Engine.” The Guardian, August 16. Accessed April 25, 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/aug/16/dance.scotlandandirelandlistings?INTCMP=SRCH.Google Scholar
Munster, Anna. 2006. Materializing New Media: Embodiment in Information Aesthetics. Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College Press.Google Scholar
Naugle, Lisa. 1998. “Digital Dancing.” IEEE Multimedia 5(4): 812.Google Scholar
Obarzanek, Gideon. 2008. “Digital Expressionism/Part 1: Interview with Gideon Obarzanek.” http://www.dance-tech.net/video/1462368:Video:9982. Accessed April 25, 2012.Google Scholar
Scharff, Roger, and Dusek, Val, Eds. 2003. Philosophy of Technology: The Technological Condition. New York: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Tijmes, Pieter. 2001. “Albert Borgmann: Technology and the Character of Everyday Life.” In American Philosophy of Technology, edited by Achterhuis, Hans and translated by Crease, Robert P.. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson-Bokowiec, Julie. 2010. “Physicality: The Techne of the Physical in Interactive Digital Performance.” International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media 6(1): 6175.Google Scholar