I-Reflexes : the affective implications of bodies in dance improvisation performance

Abstract

In this article, I present—from the perspective of the dance improviser—an analysis of my practice-as-research project, entitled I-Reflexes. In this piece I explore factors influencing decision-making in dance improvisation performance. I-Reflexes captures the improvisational interaction of three performers: a solo dancer, a musician, and a sonic artist; the audience also participates through the mediation of their mobile phones. As the choreographic improvisation and original music composition evolves and loops, the soundscape of improvisation created between the audience and the musicians’ interaction merges, thus proposing new dynamics of movement for the dancer. In this performance project, ringtones trigger unplanned, reflex-like movements in the body, suggesting alternate terms of decision-making within dance improvisation practice.