Analysis of corporal gestures in dance students’ improvisations as a response to controlled musical parameters

Abstract

This study addresses the lack of a theoretical basis in dance piano accompaniment music geared towards dance. We study which musical features are perceptually most relevant and prompt specific dance movements and gestures, particularly in academic dance.11 musical pieces using an academic style (duration approximately 30s) were composed for the experiment and recorded on a piano. The pieces varied along 6 musical features: mode, tempo, time signature, intensity, anacrusis and syncopation. For each video-recorded improvisation, we analyzed the performance of movement and gesture types. One-way ANOVAs were performed taking each musical feature as a factor and each movement as a dependent variable. Tempo and mode have the largest general influence on movement. Mode influences displacement amplitude and gesture assertiveness. Tempo influences the use of the floor and displacement amplitude. Time signature influences structure and displacement related movements and equilibrium. The results are significant for dance students with no musical training and no explicit knowledge of the musical features under study.