Article published in PAUC

I am very happy finally having published my article Beginnings and endings—dance phrase edges in an interactive dance study, written during the winter of 2022/23, in the Springer Nature journal Personal and Ubiquitous Computing after a long editorial process. The article extends and elaborates two former papers about the artistic research project I did during my sabbatical called Beginnings and Endings. My article is planned as part of a theme issue edited by prof. Michel Iber (St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences) with extended conference papers from AudioMostly 2022 and International Conference on Auditory Display 2023.

According to their stated aims and scope Personal and Ubiquitous Computing is a journal that publishes peer-reviewed multidisciplinary research on personal and ubiquitous technologies and services, and furthermore provides a global perspective on new developments in research in areas including user experience for advanced digital technologies, the Internet of Things, big data, social technologies and mobile and wearable devices. My contribution touches on user experience and wearable devices specifically related to an embodied perspective.

Abstract

This article describes a study exploring the expressive and creative potential of dance phrase onsets and endings in interactive dance, using an artistic research approach. After describing the context and background of interactive dance and relevant perceptual issues, the technical setup is presented, both in terms of the performance area, sensors and other hardware, and software. The main part of the article is concerned with the specific movement-sound mappings and their relation to the dancer’s movement choices in four different sections in the performance that the project resulted in, entitled Beginnings and Endings - Study I. Subsequently, the process and performance are evaluated, specifically focusing on the performer’s perspective. The most interesting points from the evaluation are then discussed with reference to the presented mappings, related movement choices, and relevant research literature. Findings include that the dancer experienced an increased awareness of beginnings and endings in different sections of the performance, that the affordances of different mappings were explored in different ways and to different degrees, and that some of this could be ascribed to a dynamic between liberation and restriction.

Reference:

Bergsland, A. Beginnings and endings—dance phrase edges in an interactive dance study. Pers Ubiquit Comput (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-024-01817-5

Link to the article.