| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Kinesthetic Empathy in Creative and Cultural Practices |
| Editors | Dee Reynolds, Matthew Reason |
| Place of Publication | Bristol, UK |
| Publisher | Intellect |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781841504919 |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2011 |
Bibliographical note
Author's note: The chapter discusses the first enquiry into the capture and visualisation through motion capture technology of a somatic practice, Skinner Releasing Technique. It situates the discussion within the broader frame of kinaesthetic empathy in relation to dance, to examine the differences between the audience’s experience of watching live and virtual dance. The chapter offers an analysis of Ruth Gibson’s work for immersive, virtual environments as a context for discussing the project with Skinner Releasing Technique. It is written for a broad readership, including dance and performance scholars, practitioners and those with a particular interest in virtual environments using game engine technology, as well as those interested in theories of spectatorship.The chapter develops out of the AHRC-funded Creative Fellowship, held by Ruth Gibson, which is exploring the visualisation of somatic movement practices with motion capture technology. The chapter also grows out of an invited talk in 2009 given by Whatley ‘Digital Technologies and the Re-invention of the Dancing Body’ at The Body - Dance and Academia: Moving the Boundaries symposium (University of Oxford and builds on a paper given by Whatley at an international conference in April 2010: ‘The Poetics of Motion Capture and Visualisation Techniques; watching real and virtual bodies’; Kinesthetic Empathy: Concepts and Contexts, April, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK http://watchingdance.ning.com/video/panel-3-the-poetics-of-motion . It then led to another guest talk at the 2011 Moving the Boundaries conference at the University of Oxford; ‘Watching Live and Virtual dance: negotiating the relationship between embodiment and technology’ and led to the invitation to present a paper entitled; ‘The poetics of motion capture; reading metamorphosis and embodiment in visualisations’ as part of a panel on dance and motion capture at the ISEA conference, 2011, in Istanbul. The work also connects directly with Whatley’s research into dance and somatic work, as developed through the international Journal which she established in 2009 and of which she is Editor; The Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices (now in Volume 3); http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=160/
and which has been disseminated through the first International Conference on Dance and Somatic Practices, July 2011, which she co-convened with Natalie Garrett at Coventry University. Whatley is now working on an edited collection with Amanda Williamson and Glenna Batson; Dance, Somatics and Spiritualities: Contemporary Sacred Narratives Leading voices in the field, and a paper for the edition, with Naomi Lefebvre Sell; Dancing and Flourishing: mindful meditation in dance making and performance (due to be published in 2013).