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Symposium
Ivar
Hagendoorn
Between Dance Mathematics and the Brain
Presented
Saturday May 11th at 10 am
Why
do people enjoy watching someone or a group of people move
about on a stage? While this may sound like the sigh of a
choreographer going through an artistic crisis, it is in fact
the starting point for both my scientific and artistic work.
I believe that an answer to this question has to be searched
for in the way sensory stimuli are processed in the brain.
After all, everything we see and feel is mediated by the brain.
In
my research I try to map the brain processes involved in the
perception of dance. The (in)famous "What are you watching,
the dancer or the dance?" for instance, turns out to
be deeper than it may seem. Even though the image on the retina
is the same, awareness of a dancer's movements depends on
whether attention is fixed on the dancer or her movements.
Therefore, if we want the audience's attention to focus on
an object's movements, its motion characteristics should be
finetuned to the brain mechanisms involved in motion perception,
while other features are played down.
To make up for neural processing delays, it has been conjectured
that the brain simulates the path of a moving object, which
allows the movement to be extrapolated into the future. In
a 'dialectical twist' I have therefore proposed that our keenest,
most intense visual sensation of movement arises when the
brain's predictions fail. It follows that motion perception
can be enhanced by playing with the brain's tendency to anticipate.
The human body provides an excellent device for such play.
Apart from speed and direction a dancer can vary the flow
and the limbs involved in a movement.
In my own work I use these findings to 'reverse-engineer'
movements from their desired effect. This is where my research
into perception and motor control merge. Inspired by the work
of William Forsythe and my readings into the neural mechanisms
of human movement, I am developing techniques for embedding
movements in a sequential and hierarchical structure. For
instance, by alternating local movements of the hand, foot
or shoulder, with global movements of the leg, arm or whole
body, attention can be contracted or expanded from the viewer's
point of view, while giving the dancer a means to structure
her movements.
In a traditional choreography a choreographer determines the
motions of the dancer(s). Complexity theory offers a different
paradigm towards pattern formation based on rules for the
interaction between individual agents. I have thus extended
the techniques for solo improvisation to a group of dancers.
For instance, a technique I have called 'develop space' means
that, if a dancer moves her arms at chest height while sitting
on the floor and wants to continue working in that space as
she gets up, she will have to bend forward or use her legs.
In the group framework this becomes: if some dancers are standing
up, one dancer can sit down, while simultaneously a dancer
who was lying on the floor can get up etc.
Ivar Hagendoorn - Biography
Ivar Hagendoorn is a choreographer and researcher. He studied
econometrics, philosophy and literature. Before turning full-time
to dance he worked as a quantitative analyst at an investment
bank. In 2001 he was a visiting scientist at the University
of Southern California.
http://www.ivarhagendoorn.com
Recommended reading:
Berthoz, A. The Brain's Sense of Movement. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 2000.
Decety,
J. and Grèzes, J. Neural mechanisms subserving the
perception of human actions. Trends in Cognitive Sciences
3 1999, pp. 172-178.
Ramachandran,
V.S. and Hirstein, W., The science of art: A neurological
theory of aesthetic experience. Journal of Consciousness Studies
6 1999, pp. 15-51.
Rizzolatti,
G. and Arbib, M.A., Language within our grasp. Trends in Neurosciences
21 1998, pp. 188-194.
Wolpert,
D.M., Ghahramani, Z. and Flanagan, J.R., Perspectives and
problems in motor learning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 5
2001, pp. 487-494.
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