jump to thesis page

3 JAN

Intro 1000

Chapter 1 2000
intro 500
body 1000
conclusion 500

Chapter 2 2000
intro 500
body 1000
conclusion 500

Chapter 3 2000
intro 500
body 1000
conclusion 500

Conclusion 1000

9 NOV

Q: To what extent can we archive dance?
A look into capturing (choose 3 things: technique; rhythm; notation; culture; non-verbal communication) in social dancing


Intro





Documentation in form of notation



Memory



Capturing an Experience




Conclusion



Bibliography
Goodman, N. (1976). Languages of Art: An Approach to a Theory of Symbols. 2nd ed. Hackett Publishing Comp.

Laurel, B. (2000). Computers as Theatre. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ [u.a.]: Addison-Wesley.

Slater, L. (2005). Opening Skinner's Box. 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury, pp.205 - 223.

In 1953 Dr. Scoville’s discovered that memory has a specific location in the brain, in the hippocampus, not scattered around as thought before. Patient Henry Mollison was still able to brush his teeth after his hippocampus was removed, but wasn’t able to create new memories. Dr. Brenda Milner continued her research on Henry and was able to identify procedural, or unconscious memory. Dr. Eric Kandel at the same time tested how information travels through neurones of sea slugs. He was able to prove that every time a task is repeated, the stronger the webwork of carrying that task becomes, the stronger the memory, the stronger and smoother the electrochemical conversation between those particular synapses in the brain becomes. This would explain falling into a flow, whether for athletes, musicians or dancers. The more a task is practiced, the stronger the memory, the smoother the task becomes.



Ted Talk, (2009). Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow, the secret to happiness. [video] Available at: http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow?language=en [Accessed 3 Mar. 2017].

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi presented his research about flow during a Ted Talk in 2004. He explained how our nervous system is incapable of processing more than about 110 bits of information per second. That would explain how new dancers cannot fall into flow when trying to think about the rhythm, tempo, direction and body movement. Csikszentmihalyi continued with explaining how our brains need to feel high levels of challange and high levels of skill in order to be stimulated enough to reach flow. His key points that prove we have obtained it are:
* Completely involved in what we are doing - focused, concentrated
* A sense of ecstasy - of being outside everyday reality
* Great inner clarity - knowing what needs to be done and how well we are doing
* Knowing that the activity is doable - that our skills are adequate to the task
* A sense of serenity - no worries about oneself, and a feeling of growing beyond the bounderies of the ego
* Timelessness - thoroughly focused on the present, hours seem to pass by in minutes
* Intrinsic motivation - whatever produces flow becomes its own reward



Wiener, N. (1965). Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. 2nd ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Pr.

A binary division in understanding time can be found in Robert Wiener’s view on Newtonian and Bergsonian time. He explains this contrast using astrology and meteorology. Newtonian time, just like astrology, is strict and mathematical (scientific? measurable?). Wiener describes, “the positions, velocities, and masses of the bodies of the solar system are extremely well known at any time” (p.32). Newton used this time perception for engineering and space, not as a social human system. Bergsonian time on the other hand, like meteorology, is flexible and more adaptable to human experiences. Wiener continues, “the number of particles concerned is so enormous that an accurate record of their initial position and velocities is utterly impossible” (p.33). Bergson emphasised the difference between Newton’s reversible time in physics - where if the movement of the planets was rewinded, nothing would change - and Gibbsian irreversible time in evolution and biology - where rewinding would always cause something new. If you were to implement this time perception into dance, speed (counts / BPM) and rhythm are what create the structured blueprint, whereas motion moulds itself and cannot be recreated when rewinded.



8 NOV

Q: can we archive dance?
A look into capturing (choose 3 things: technique; rhythm; notation; culture) in social dancing


Documentation in form of notation



Memory



hippocampus
MRI scans
loss of memory
retrieving memory

Capturing an Experience



Dance as a Language



Conclusion



Bibliography
Goodman, N. (1976). Languages of Art: An Approach to a Theory of Symbols. 2nd ed. Hackett Publishing Comp.

Laurel, B. (2000). Computers as Theatre. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ [u.a.]: Addison-Wesley.

Slater, L. (2005). Opening Skinner's Box. 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury, pp.205 - 223.

In 1953 Dr. Scoville’s discovered that memory has a specific location in the brain, in the hippocampus, not scattered around as thought before. Patient Henry Mollison was still able to brush his teeth after his hippocampus was removed, but wasn’t able to create new memories. Dr. Brenda Milner continued her research on Henry and was able to identify procedural, or unconscious memory. Dr. Eric Kandel at the same time tested how information travels through neurones of sea slugs. He was able to prove that every time a task is repeated, the stronger the webwork of carrying that task becomes, the stronger the memory, the stronger and smoother the electrochemical conversation between those particular synapses in the brain becomes. This would explain falling into a flow, whether for athletes, musicians or dancers. The more a task is practiced, the stronger the memory, the smoother the task becomes.



Ted Talk, (2009). Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow, the secret to happiness. [video] Available at: http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow?language=en [Accessed 3 Mar. 2017].

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi presented his research about flow during a Ted Talk in 2004. He explained how our nervous system is incapable of processing more than about 110 bits of information per second. That would explain how new dancers cannot fall into flow when trying to think about the rhythm, tempo, direction and body movement. Csikszentmihalyi continued with explaining how our brains need to feel high levels of challange and high levels of skill in order to be stimulated enough to reach flow. His key points that prove we have obtained it are:
* Completely involved in what we are doing - focused, concentrated
* A sense of ecstasy - of being outside everyday reality
* Great inner clarity - knowing what needs to be done and how well we are doing
* Knowing that the activity is doable - that our skills are adequate to the task
* A sense of serenity - no worries about oneself, and a feeling of growing beyond the bounderies of the ego
* Timelessness - thoroughly focused on the present, hours seem to pass by in minutes
* Intrinsic motivation - whatever produces flow becomes its own reward



Wiener, N. (1965). Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. 2nd ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Pr.

A binary division in understanding time can be found in Robert Wiener’s view on Newtonian and Bergsonian time. He explains this contrast using astrology and meteorology. Newtonian time, just like astrology, is strict and mathematical (scientific? measurable?). Wiener describes, “the positions, velocities, and masses of the bodies of the solar system are extremely well known at any time” (p.32). Newton used this time perception for engineering and space, not as a social human system. Bergsonian time on the other hand, like meteorology, is flexible and more adaptable to human experiences. Wiener continues, “the number of particles concerned is so enormous that an accurate record of their initial position and velocities is utterly impossible” (p.33). Bergson emphasised the difference between Newton’s reversible time in physics - where if the movement of the planets was rewinded, nothing would change - and Gibbsian irreversible time in evolution and biology - where rewinding would always cause something new. If you were to implement this time perception into dance, speed (counts / BPM) and rhythm are what create the structured blueprint, whereas motion moulds itself and cannot be recreated when rewinded.



26 OCT

Note for Marloes:
didn't change much since 5th October


What you want the thesis to be about?
I'm investigating the tension between documentation and experience. As technology advances, we are trying harder and harder to capture experiences. No matter how much we try to explain or document the action, we are only communicating a fragment of it. Whether sharing holiday photos on social media, or culinary shows, the viewer will not receive the 'full picture' unless the viewer experiences it themselves. Even then, it is a personal / subjective version of that experience. We can try to fill in those missing gaps by backing it up with more media: showing more photos; playing certain music (summer soundtrack); or explaining how something smells. The more we add to this 'archive' / collection of documentation, the closer we are to sharing the experience, yet are we getting any closer? What tools could help us do that? Will we ever manage? What may happen once we achieve that? (Will that be a simulation? - possibly too far? maybe final thought for thesis?)

Instead of looking at experiences as a whole, I will mainly focus on social dancing. The research is a fluid connection between psychological theory regarding topics such as: memory; falling into flow; spacial awareness; (graphical) notation; and unspoken-communication / interaction between the dancers, as well as practical experiments related to these topics. There is no strict rule whether I take a theory and create an experiment out of it, or create an experiment and find appropriate theory to back it up. One experiment leads to another as topics are related. (The experiments are the methodology / correlation between thesis and graduation project.) The experiments are conducted with both participants who dance, and those who do not. Although the focus is on social dance experience, most experiments do not aim for the participants to dance. Topics such as: social interaction; non-verbal communication; or spacial awareness can be expressed in other forms (think Sims).

Reasoning why I'm interested:


Reasoning as a dancer:

Dance is a non-verbal language passed down from person to person. If it isn’t recorded, it will be lost. Swing almost died out, until it was reintroduced by Frankie Manning and Norma Miller in the 1990s. Choreology, graphical or written dance notation, is a method for conservation, yet there are many versions. They range from overly simplistic footstep maps which only communicate footwork, to Lebanotation which represents many aspects such as direction, body part movement, duration and dynamics of the movement, yet is difficult to read and requires time to learn do decode the language. Conserving dance with the use of video is fine if it’s for watching purposes only, yet once it is used for teaching or recreation, it becomes too fast and/or time consuming to constantly rewind small sections.


How it relates to your research at the Piet Zwart so far?
Special Issue 02: Pushing the Score


notes from Karina/self-directed/Capturing Memories In Time


previous written piece: Time Perception in Dance








Bibliography
Goodman, N. (1976). Languages of Art: An Approach to a Theory of Symbols. 2nd ed. Hackett Publishing Comp.

Laurel, B. (2000). Computers as Theatre. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ [u.a.]: Addison-Wesley.

Slater, L. (2005). Opening Skinner's Box. 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury, pp.205 - 223.

In 1953 Dr. Scoville’s discovered that memory has a specific location in the brain, in the hippocampus, not scattered around as thought before. Patient Henry Mollison was still able to brush his teeth after his hippocampus was removed, but wasn’t able to create new memories. Dr. Brenda Milner continued her research on Henry and was able to identify procedural, or unconscious memory. Dr. Eric Kandel at the same time tested how information travels through neurones of sea slugs. He was able to prove that every time a task is repeated, the stronger the webwork of carrying that task becomes, the stronger the memory, the stronger and smoother the electrochemical conversation between those particular synapses in the brain becomes. This would explain falling into a flow, whether for athletes, musicians or dancers. The more a task is practiced, the stronger the memory, the smoother the task becomes.



Ted Talk, (2009). Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow, the secret to happiness. [video] Available at: http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow?language=en [Accessed 3 Mar. 2017].

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi presented his research about flow during a Ted Talk in 2004. He explained how our nervous system is incapable of processing more than about 110 bits of information per second. That would explain how new dancers cannot fall into flow when trying to think about the rhythm, tempo, direction and body movement. Csikszentmihalyi continued with explaining how our brains need to feel high levels of challange and high levels of skill in order to be stimulated enough to reach flow. His key points that prove we have obtained it are:
* Completely involved in what we are doing - focused, concentrated
* A sense of ecstasy - of being outside everyday reality
* Great inner clarity - knowing what needs to be done and how well we are doing
* Knowing that the activity is doable - that our skills are adequate to the task
* A sense of serenity - no worries about oneself, and a feeling of growing beyond the bounderies of the ego
* Timelessness - thoroughly focused on the present, hours seem to pass by in minutes
* Intrinsic motivation - whatever produces flow becomes its own reward



Wiener, N. (1965). Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. 2nd ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Pr.

A binary division in understanding time can be found in Robert Wiener’s view on Newtonian and Bergsonian time. He explains this contrast using astrology and meteorology. Newtonian time, just like astrology, is strict and mathematical (scientific? measurable?). Wiener describes, “the positions, velocities, and masses of the bodies of the solar system are extremely well known at any time” (p.32). Newton used this time perception for engineering and space, not as a social human system. Bergsonian time on the other hand, like meteorology, is flexible and more adaptable to human experiences. Wiener continues, “the number of particles concerned is so enormous that an accurate record of their initial position and velocities is utterly impossible” (p.33). Bergson emphasised the difference between Newton’s reversible time in physics - where if the movement of the planets was rewinded, nothing would change - and Gibbsian irreversible time in evolution and biology - where rewinding would always cause something new. If you were to implement this time perception into dance, speed (counts / BPM) and rhythm are what create the structured blueprint, whereas motion moulds itself and cannot be recreated when rewinded.



5 OCT

What you want the thesis to be about?
I'm investigating the tension between documentation and experience. As technology advances, we are trying harder and harder to capture experiences. No matter how much we try to explain or document the action, we are only communicating a fragment of it. Whether sharing holiday photos on social media, or culinary shows, the viewer will not receive the 'full picture' unless the viewer experiences it themselves. Even then, it is a personal / subjective version of that experience. We can try to fill in those missing gaps by backing it up with more media: showing more photos; playing certain music (summer soundtrack); or explaining how something smells. The more we add to this 'archive' / collection of documentation, the closer we are to sharing the experience, yet are we getting any closer? What tools could help us do that? Will we ever manage? What may happen once we achieve that? (Will that be a simulation? - possibly too far? maybe final thought for thesis?)

Instead of looking at experiences as a whole, I will mainly focus on social dancing. The research is a fluid connection between psychological theory regarding topics such as: memory; falling into flow; spacial awareness; (graphical) notation; and unspoken-communication / interaction between the dancers, as well as practical experiments related to these topics. There is no strict rule whether I take a theory and create an experiment out of it, or create an experiment and find appropriate theory to back it up. One experiment leads to another as topics are related. (The experiments are the methodology / correlation between thesis and graduation project.) The experiments are conducted with both participants who dance, and those who do not. Although the focus is on social dance experience, most experiments do not aim for the participants to dance. Topics such as: social interaction; non-verbal communication; or spacial awareness can be expressed in other forms (think Sims).

Reasoning why I'm interested:


Reasoning as a dancer:

Dance is a non-verbal language passed down from person to person. If it isn’t recorded, it will be lost. Swing almost died out, until it was reintroduced by Frankie Manning and Norma Miller in the 1990s. Choreology, graphical or written dance notation, is a method for conservation, yet there are many versions. They range from overly simplistic footstep maps which only communicate footwork, to Lebanotation which represents many aspects such as direction, body part movement, duration and dynamics of the movement, yet is difficult to read and requires time to learn do decode the language. Conserving dance with the use of video is fine if it’s for watching purposes only, yet once it is used for teaching or recreation, it becomes too fast and/or time consuming to constantly rewind small sections.


How it relates to your research at the Piet Zwart so far?
Special Issue 02: Pushing the Score


notes from Karina/self-directed/Capturing Memories In Time


previous written piece: Time Perception in Dance








Bibliography
Goodman, N. (1976). Languages of Art: An Approach to a Theory of Symbols. 2nd ed. Hackett Publishing Comp.

Laurel, B. (2000). Computers as Theatre. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ [u.a.]: Addison-Wesley.

Slater, L. (2005). Opening Skinner's Box. 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury, pp.205 - 223.

Ted Talk, (2009). Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow, the secret to happiness. [video] Available at: http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow?language=en [Accessed 3 Mar. 2017].

Wiener, N. (1965). Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. 2nd ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Pr.



Old notes
I'd like to





Feedback: worried about: sharing experiences in the future - dangerous thing to get into, if it was to be a reality sometimes it feels archival, conservation, but also experiments based on memory, spacial awareness.. is it one thing, are they connected

1st & 2nd paragraph: address 2 separate things general enquiry, 2nd is inability for photograph to capture emotion how does dance fit? the way it’s introduced sounds like 2 different avenues dance as cultural society that has no alphabet communicate to offspring, transmit tradition, history, culture (not standard western culture)

depending how far you want to push it, simulation is another thing. feels like something different. feels less like history media representation rather than historical representation

documenting but it’s real time

time perception sounds good huge aspect of archival and cultural context

archival and document social dance experience (emotionally)? define the goal a little more

figure out your medium how to represent data, how to represent thesis itself (book? poster? film?)

investigate other forms of dance, cultural anthropology, dances that died out, that may lead to to another direction + backs swing death mention ceremonial, ritual dances in different cultures (that may help)

non-verbal communication - research more into that / explain it in more detail / not easily documented

personal & subjective experience, how will you document it as a global experience? you want others to participate explain how it’s not just my experience - interviews with dancers explain simply, no matter how much I share my experience, you will interpret it subjectively “mallorca is great


instructions and teaching other people, constituent part about these experience (“video is fine, but not to learn from”)

“The experiments are conducted with both participants who dance, and those who do not. Although the focus is on social dance experience, most experiments do not aim for the participants to dance.” - those who like it and those who don’t