Digital Technologies and Contemporary Dance Practices in the Context of the Communicative Function

The article considers the communicative aspects of the results of the introduction of digital technologies in the practices of contemporary dance culture. Interdisciplinary experiments in the field of dance and technology, the tendency to enhance audiovisual effects in choreography and the departure from reality into virtual spaces reflect the complexity and contradictory nature of contemporary digital society. This confirms the need to apply cultural methodology to the study of the impact of digital technologies on contemporary dance practices.

The application of digital technologies in the field of professional choreography has led to transformations at different stages of the process of creating a choreographic work from the composition plan to the rehearsal process. The introduction of video mapping and interactive systems, VR-technologies allowed to reach a new level of artistic communication with the audience. Communication platforms, video hosting and social networks in the sphere of mass culture and leisure activities contribute to strengthening the communicative functions of dance practices. Smartphone applications and game programmes for dance education promote new forms of dance communication.

Interdisciplinary projects that bring together the art of choreography and technologies that function through the use of non-standard modes of input open up perspectives for research into the relationship between the digital and the real. The interactions between the dancer’s physical body and technological agents aim to find new forms of expression in dance. A number of experiments in choreography that use virtual environments and motion capture technologies aim to improve creative or training processes and to preserve cultural choreographic heritage.

As a result, the authors identify the main areas of potential for the application of digital technologies as a tool for adding audiovisual data to a dance or choreographic production, including by transforming the kinetic information obtained during the movement of the performer. It also increases the volume and quality of data in the transmission, accumulation and storage of information in the process of dance communication; it provides a new level of interaction between the spectator and the dancer or performers.

1. Devyatova O.L., Pichueva A.A. Dance Culture in the Digital Age, Observatoriya kul’tury [Observatory of Culture], 2022, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 372—380. DOI: 10.25281/2072-3156-2022-19-4-372-380 (in Russ.).

2. Lotman Yu.M. Semiosfera [Semiosphere]. St. Petersburg, Iskusstvo-SPb Publ., 1999, 703 p.

3. Karmin A.S. Osnovy kul’turologii. Morfologiya kul’tury: uchebnik dlya studentov vuzov [Fundamentals of Cultural Studies. Morphology of Culture: textbook]. St. Petersburg, Lan’ Publ., 1997, 507 p.

4. Flier A.Ya. Social Functions of Culture, Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta kul’tury i iskusstv [Bulletin of the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts], 2012, no. 4 (48), pp. 19—25 (in Russ.).

5. Mochalova N.V. Digital Technologies in Choreography and Their Role in the Development of the Communicative Culture of the Personality, Mezhdunarodnyi forum KAZAN DIGITAL WEEK — 2021: cbornik materialov (Kazan’, 21—24 sent. 2021 g. [International Forum KAZAN DIGITAL WEEK — 2021: Proceedings (Kazan, September 21—24, 2021]. Kazan, Nauchnyi Tsentr Bezopasnosti Zhiznedeyatel’nosti Publ., 2021, part 1, pp. 533—537 (in Russ.).

6. Pimenova Zh.V. Dancing Communication During an Era of Digital Technologies, Nauchnyi vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo tekhnicheskogo universiteta grazhdanskoi aviatsii [Civil Aviation High Technologies], 2015, no. 215, pp. 122—126 (in Russ.).

7. Egorova M.A. Digital Technologies (in Law), Bol’shaya rossiiskaya ehntsiklopediya: nauchno-obrazovatel’nyi portal [The Great Russian Encyclopaedia: scientific and educational portal]. Available at: https://bigenc.ru/c/tsifrovye-tekhnologii-v-prave-a80897 (accessed 25.03.2025) (in Russ.).

8. Ivanova M.D., Muravev S.V., Kloyan G.Z., Nikitin V.N., Shitoev I.D. Motion Capture Systems: Medical and Technical Assessment of the Current Stage of Technology Development. Literature Review, Sportivnaya meditsina: nauka i praktika [Sports Medicine: Research and Practice], 2023, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 28—40. DOI: 10.47529/2223-2524.2023.1.9 (in Russ.).

9. Belous A.N., Rybkin S.V. Operating Algorithms and Classification of Motion Capture Systems, Mezhdunarodnyi studencheskii nauchnyi vestnik [European Student Scientific Journal], 2019, no. 2, pp. 1—9. Available at: https://eduherald.ru/ru/article/view?id=19588 (accessed 25.03.2025) (in Russ.).

10. Rubidge S. Dance Criticism in the Light of Digital Dance. Taipei National University of the Arts: Seminar on Dance Criticism and Interdisciplinary Practice. 2004, July. Available at: http://www.sensedigital.co.uk/writing/CritIntDiscTaiw.pdf (accessed 25.03.2025).

11. Gündüz Z. Digital Dance: (Dis)Entangling Human and Technology. [Thesis, Fully Internal, Universiteit van Amsterdam]. Rozenberg Publ., 2012, 221 p.

12. Preciado-Azanza G., Akinleye A. Dancing the Digital Age: A Survey of the New Technologies in the Choreographic Process, Journal of Genius and Eminence, 2020, January, pp. 37—52.

13. Mullis E. Dance, Interactive Technology, and the Device Paradigm, Dance Research Journal, 2013, December, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 111—124. DOI: 10.1017/S0149767712000290.

14. Rubidge S. Digital Technology in Choreography: Issues and Implications. 2012, pp. 1—16. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/67199279/Digital_Technology_in_Choreography_Issues_and_Implications (accessed 25.03.2025).

15. Gryzunova O.V., Petukhov Yu.N. The Concept of Computer Choreography and Modern Directions of Computerization of the Staging Process, Vestnik Akademii russkogo baleta im. A.Ya. Vaganovoi [Bulletin of Vaganova Ballet Academy], 2022, no. 6, pp. 6—18 (in Russ.).

16. Volynov M.M., Kitov A.A., Goryachkin B.S. Virtual Reality: Types, Structure, Features, Development Prospects, E-Scio, 2020, no. 5, pp. 795—812. Available at: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/virtualnaya-realnost-vidy-struktura-osobennosti-perspektivy-razvitiya (accessed 25.03.2025) (in Russ.).

17. deLahunta S., Jenett F. Making Digital Choreographic Objects Interrelate: A Focus on Coding Practices, Performing the Digital, 2017, pp. 63—80. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1xxsxb.5 (accessed 25.03.2025).

18. Strutt D., Cisneros R. Virtual Relationships: The Dancer and the Avatar, Theatre and Performance Design, 2021, vol. 7, issue 1—2, pp. 61—81. DOI: 10.1080/23322551.2021.1925468.

19. Irkhen I.I., Ursolenko E.S. Motion Capture Technology as a Way to Preserve Cyprian Folk Dance, Philharmonica. International Music Journal, 2020, no. 1, pp. 50—56. DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.1.31758 (in Russ.).

20. KLOF. Cyberographies of Folk: Dance Performance Bringing Folkdances into Dialogue with Artificial Intelligence. Available at: https://www.irinademina.com/klof-cyberographies-of-folk (accessed 25.03.2025).

21. Day J. Project Tapis Magique: A Choreomusical Interactive Carpet. Available at: https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/tapis-magique/overview/ (accessed 25.03.2025).

22. News Releases. Yamaha Artificial Intelligence (AI) Transforms a Dancer into a Pianist. Available at: https://archive.yamaha.com/en/news_release/2018/18013101 (accessed 25.03.2025).

23. “Oktava DM” pokazala “Tantsgenerator” — fidzhital-razrabotku, prevrashchayushchuyu dvizhenie v zvuk [“Octava Design and Marketing” Introduced the Digital System “Dancer”, Based on Phygital Technology for Creating Musical Works in Real Time]. Available at: https://samesound.ru/soft/173264-oktava-dm-pokazala-tancgenerator-fidzhital-razrabotku-prevrashhayushhuyu-dvizhenie-v-zvuk (accessed 25.03.2025).

24. Piitulainen R., Hämäläinen P., Mekler E.D. Vibing Together: Dance Experiences in Social Virtual Reality, CHI’22: Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 2022, no. 188, pp. 1—18. DOI: 10.1145/3491102.3501828.

25. Varlamov A.V., Yakovleva N.V. Distortions of Body Perception During Immersion in Computer Virtual Reality Using Full-Body Tracking, Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Seriya: Psikhologiya i pedagogika [RUDN Journal of Psychology and Pedagogics], 2022, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 670—688. DOI: 10.22363/2313-1683-2022-19-4-670-688 (in Russ.).