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Dance, as a specialist discipline, is examined in the context of research in Corpus Linguistics that suggests that the lexicon used by those in a specialist discipline offers insight into the concepts and ideologies of that discipline. The hypothesis is that the lexicon of dance writing demonstrates aesthetic concepts and theoretical approaches and beliefs through generalised language patterns. In this thesis two disciplines generally in tension with one another, Dance and Computer Science, are used to discuss Dance as seen through the words of dance writers.
Dance, as a specialist discipline, is examined in the context of research in Corpus Linguistics that suggests that the lexicon used by those in a specialist discipline offers insight into the concepts and ideologies of that discipline. The hypothesis is that the lexicon of dance writing demonstrates aesthetic concepts and theoretical approaches and beliefs through generalised language patterns. In this thesis two disciplines generally in tension with one another, Dance and Computer Science, are used to discuss Dance as seen through the words of dance writers.
In order to automatically recognise and identify semantic movement in 2D film, it is necessary to acknowledge the complexities of communication through motion. To that end we have generated quantitative data of verbal and non-verbal instances of metaphoric terms associated with conflict (e.g. victim, attack, struggle). Through the works of seven choreographers we employ motion capture technologies and statistical methods to analyse movements and written texts about the dance works with regards to body, space and time. In dance, body parts and their relationships to one another and space are important in symbolising a specific idea. In the written texts, for example, the word ‘hands’ is frequently collocated with ‘knees’ in victim, whereas in struggle, ‘hands’ is more closely related to ‘floor’ or ‘ground’. Where dancers stand on stage, as well as what direction they move and face, are important factors to consider. In written texts, the frequency of the word ‘facing’ is fairly even among victim, struggle, and attack, yet the direction in which the dancer is facing varies per term (e.g. in attack ‘facing’ is more likely to relate to down-stage locations, while in struggle ‘facing’ appears with stage-right and stage-left). In addition, based on statistics, the frequency in which movement representative of a term occurs, as well as the time devoted to the performance of each term, can indicate meaning. It takes fewer movements to represent a victim, yet quite a lot of time to perform being a victim (e.g. 53 sections of victim movement yield 19.65% of the total captured time). As our paper shows, by using quantitative analysis of movement and written words, we can understand the relationships of the body in space and time in choreographed metaphor.