Twentieth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

This paper presents the interdisciplinary practice-as-research project and its methodology, which examines the effects of auditory perception on movement improvisation, and how this informs the creative process of an experimental performance outcome. It hypothesises that there can be a measurable data-based relationship between heard sound(s), brain activity, and movement response(s). The central questions are how sound affects the brain during the creation of improvised movements and how these sounds influence the performers’ movement choices (actors and dancers). This research combines contemporary dance and physical theatre improvisation with cognitive neuroscience, exploring how responding to sound stimuli is expressed through embodiment and brain activity. Data is gathered through individual movement improvisation from 10 performers based on recorded music and individual fMRI scanning while listening, imagining, and watching movement improvisation in specific tasks. The gathered data is compared and correlated, forming data sets to develop an experimental performance.