Monday, March 9, 2009

Cognitive scientists seek to quantify body movement


Personally, I think that dance is the ultimate form of self-expression. Since I'm a dancr myself, I tend to not think about the worries that go on in my life. But in reality all our worries are still there. I found this article on LA Times about these form of dancers at the University of San Diego, and how Cognitive Scientists were following their every move. First when I read this, I wanted to know why? Seemed strange, what research were they going to get out of it?


The object of their study was notoriously elusive: dance and the process of choreographic creation.What happens, they wondered, when choreographer Wayne McGregor creates movement on (through? with?) the protean, hyper-articulated bodies of his Random Dance Company? How do the dancers visualize his cues? How do they respond to one another in the group dynamic? How do they remember? And how does he? By the end of every day during those three weeks, each person in the theater had interviewed or been interviewed by others participating in a meticulously crafted experiment exploring the nature -- and role -- of cognition in creating dance.


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