Work

Presence Rewired: The Re-materialisation of Digital Dance from the Sweatshop to the Pixel

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This article examines digital dance, not in opposition to physical bodies but in material continuity with them. By offering an expansive notion of ‘presence’ in dance, we intend to supersede the binarism that condemns the digital as mere traces of the ‘real’ or as a blunt synonym for the ‘virtual’ and the ‘immaterial’. We depart from a historical overview of attempts to capture bodily creativity into mediated forms according to the values of each epoch. Thus, considering the current moment of dance digitalisation immersed in the information society, we formulate our argument by discussing how presence and virtuality transcend within the attempts to digitalise dance. Later, we address how, although transformed, the material dimension of the body persists through its digital capturing. In the last section, we address the relational ontologies that the digitalisation of dance can unleash in diverse cultural contexts, as dance-data regains its virtuality.

Source: Body & Society

DOI: 10.1177/1357034x251389881

Authors: Jorge Poveda Yánez, Beatriz Herrera Corado, Annelies Van Assche

Institutions: University of California, Riverside, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Ghent University

Language: English

Topic: Art, Technology, and Culture

Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650

Funders: Fulbright Association, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Vlaamse regering