School of Performing Arts

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Browsing School of Performing Arts by Department "School of Performing Arts"

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    Dance on the Brain: Enhancing Intra and Inter-Brain Synchrony
    Basso, Julia C.; Satyal, Medha K.; Rugh, Rachel (Frontiers, 2021-01-07)
    Dance has traditionally been viewed from a Eurocentric perspective as a mode of self-expression that involves the human body moving through space, performed for the purposes of art, and viewed by an audience. In this Hypothesis and Theory article, we synthesize findings from anthropology, sociology, psychology, dance pedagogy, and neuroscience to propose The Synchronicity Hypothesis of Dance, which states that humans dance to enhance both intra- and inter-brain synchrony. We outline a neurocentric definition of dance, which suggests that dance involves neurobehavioral processes in seven distinct areas including sensory, motor, cognitive, social, emotional, rhythmic, and creative. We explore The Synchronicity Hypothesis of Dance through several avenues. First, we examine evolutionary theories of dance, which suggest that dance drives interpersonal coordination. Second, we examine fundamental movement patterns, which emerge throughout development and are omnipresent across cultures of the world. Third, we examine how each of the seven neurobehaviors increases intraand inter-brain synchrony. Fourth, we examine the neuroimaging literature on dance to identify the brain regions most involved in and affected by dance. The findings presented here support our hypothesis that we engage in dance for the purpose of intrinsic reward, which as a result of dance-induced increases in neural synchrony, leads to enhanced interpersonal coordination. This hypothesis suggests that dance may be helpful to repattern oscillatory activity, leading to clinical improvements in autism spectrum disorder and other disorders with oscillatory activity impairments. Finally, we offer suggestions for future directions and discuss the idea that our consciousness can be redefined not just as an individual process but as a shared experience that we can positively influence by dancing together.
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    Devising Commedia as an Antiracist Theatre Practice in The Artful Token
    Rosin, Jordan (2021-08-07)
    This presentation will recount some of Jordan Rosin's key insights from producing and directing an ensemble-devised Contemporary Commedia adaptation of Goldoni's The Artful Widow with undergraduate students at Virginia Tech, employing a process which combined The Ume Group's Devising Methodology, Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process, Theatrical Intimacy Education-inspired boundary practices, and Nicole Brewer's Antiracist Theatre principles. Major insights revolve around opportunities and limitations of Commedia as an antiracist/anti-oppressive practice, as well as the synergies between consent, harm prevention, Liz Lerman's CRP, Emergent Strategy, and the roles of actor-creator and director-as-facilitator.
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    From Kerry to Chiconcuac: Marie Jones’s Stones in His Pockets and Sabina Berman’s eXtras
    Bixler, Jacqueline E. (2020-05)
    This article focuses on the Mexican play, eXtras, Sabina Berman's translation and adaptation of the Irish hit play Stones in His Pockets by Marie Jones. Linda Hutcheon, Thomas Leitch, and other contributors to adaptation studies shed light on the process used by Berman to tradapt and glocalize Stones in His Pockets for the Mexican stage, where the combined forces of Hollywood and globalization have likewise ravaged the local economy and where Jones's tragicomic story of exploitation and anonymization played every bit as well as it did in Ireland.
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    Reimagining Human Capacity For Location-Aware Aural Pattern Recognition: A Case For Immersive Exocentric Sonification
    Bukvic, Ivica Ico; Earle, Gregory D. (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-06)
    The following paper presents a cross-disciplinary snapshot of 21st century research in sonification and leverages the review to identify a new immersive exocentric approach to studying human capacity to perceive spatial aural cues. The paper further defines immersive exocentric sonification, highlights its unique affordances, and presents an argument for its potential to fundamentally change the way we understand and study the human capacity for location-aware audio pattern recognition. Finally, the paper describes an example of an externally funded research project that aims to tackle this newfound research whitespace.
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    Studies In Spatial Aural Perception: Establishing Foundations For Immersive Sonification
    Bukvic, Ivica Ico; Earle, Gregory D.; Sardana, Disha; Joo, Woohun (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-06)
    The Spatial Audio Data Immersive Experience (SADIE) project aims to identify new foundational relationships pertaining to human spatial aural perception, and to validate existing relationships. Our infrastructure consists of an intuitive interaction interface, an immersive exocentric sonification environment, and a layer-based amplitude-panning algorithm. Here we highlight the system’s unique capabilities and provide findings from an initial externally funded study that focuses on the assessment of human aural spatial perception capacity. When compared to the existing body of literature focusing on egocentric spatial perception, our data show that an immersive exocentric environment enhances spatial perception, and that the physical implementation using high density loudspeaker arrays enables significantly improved spatial perception accuracy relative to the egocentric and virtual binaural approaches. The preliminary observations suggest that human spatial aural perception capacity in real-world-like immersive exocentric environments that allow for head and body movement is significantly greater than in egocentric scenarios where head and body movement is restricted. Therefore, in the design of immersive auditory displays, the use of immersive exocentric environments is advised. Further, our data identify a significant gap between physical and virtual human spatial aural perception accuracy, which suggests that further development of virtual aural immersion may be necessary before such an approach may be seen as a viable alternative.