Princeton researchers have developed a mathematical analysis of dancers’ decisions and opportunities for collaborative composition in the rule-based improvisational work “There Might Be Others,” shown here with dancers rehearsing at Princeton. The work is part of an ongoing effort to explore collective behavior in nature and art and to inform the design of control systems for robot teams. It is a collaboration of Naomi Ehrich Leonard, the Edwin S. Wilsey Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Rebecca Lazier, a senior lecturer in dance in the Lewis Center for the Arts; and Dan Trueman, a professor of music.
Photo by Ian Douglas
Improvised dance embodies complexities of social decisions
Molly Sharlach, Office of Engineering Communications, Feb. 21, 2019 9:28 a.m.
A work of art evolves from a series of decisions, as an artist combines brushstrokes, dance steps or musical notes to convey a feeling or idea. When a group of interacting dancers improvises a performance from a repertoire of possible movements, the dynamics of the artistic decisions become even more complex.
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