| Choreographic Morphologies: Interdisciplinary Crossovers in the Use of Digital Visualisation Methods in Dance and Archaeology |
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Helen Bailey, Stuart Dunn, James Hewison, Martin Turner
King’s College London
University of Bedfordshire
University of Manchester
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Description:
Interpretations of the past are intimately connected with the realistic and/or schematic visualization of data. The use of maps, diagrams, drawings, and photorealistic digital imaging are commonplace methods for the retrieval of data in the process of bringing the past into the present. However the striking similarities between archaeologists’ requirements in this area and those of creative research communities involved with the documentation and analysis of embodied practices in the context of dance research, is a rich and little-explored area. Recent developments in the application of new and advanced technologies such as; motion capture, motion tracking and visualisation techniques in dance research render this even more acute.
Choreographic Morphologies is one of the research outcomes of the e-Dance Project, a two-year interdisciplinary practice-led project bringing together practitioners and academics from the fields of Dance and e-Science. The project is funded by three UK Research Councils - the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and JISC as part of the Arts and Humanities e-Science Initiative. e-Dance repurposes a range of technologies, as a context for performance and documentation. In making use of recent developments in the visualisation of spatio-temporal structures and discourse, the Choreographic Morphologies project records and captures dance motion in graphical forms known as "choreographic morphologies". This allows the inherently transitory and ephemeral aspects of dance compositional structure to be captured and viewed in reusable (and reviewable) form. In the same way, archaeology is concerned with evidence that is transitory, recalled (through the process of recording and on-site documentation) and whose context is almost invariably lost in the destructive process of excavation.
Our current research is exploring the relationship between the 3-D mapping of dance and the 3-D mapping of archaeology. We are considering some specific areas in which crossovers can point to the development of new transdisciplinary understandings of the notion of site and embodied experience of place. In particular, we are investigating how the archaeological field research process, which is normally accessible to the reader/viewer only via written narratives and images in the literature reporting it, can be embodied as the creative practice that it is, and how visualizing that practice can lead to new forms of choreographic composition. |
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| Further Information |
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Bailey, H., Hewison, J. & Turner. M. (2008) Choreographic Morphologies: digital visualisation of spatio-temporal structure in dance and the implications for performance and documentation. In EVA2008 International Conference Proceedings, British Computing Society, UK ISBN 978-1-906124-07-6.
Dodge, M., McDerby, M., Turner, M., (Eds.) (2008) Geographic Visualization: Concepts, Tools and Applications, Wiley.
Of related interest: Pearson, M. and Shanks, M. (2001) Theatre/archaeology. London: Routledge |
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| Related Internet Links & Resources |
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| Performers: Lee Awanah, Amalia Garcia, Lisa Spackman perform ‘Morphologies’ (2007) |
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| Research Project Staff |
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Helen Bailey
Centre for Applied Research in Dance, University of Bedfordshire
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Stuart Dunn
Center for e-Research, King’s College London
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James Hewison
Centre for Applied Research in Dance, University of Bedfordshire
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Martin Turner
Manchester Visualization Centre, Research Computing Services, University of Manchester
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| Project Contacts |
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