Dance + architecture : the threads that run in between

Abstract

Architecture holds the power to influence the ways people occupy and use space. Man’s basic need to accommodate his activities has made architecture a vital component of social structures. In this respect, the discipline of architecture cannot afford to be a closed system of concepts and manners of practice, but should, in its spirit and design, embrace a sense of dialogue with other disciplines, allowing itself to absorb knowledge and expertise from other areas of study which may result in an enriched architectural understanding of the potential multiplicity of ways of how the built environment is inhabited. The realm of dance revolves around the movement of the human body in space and time. The notion of a dialogue being set up between the disciplines of architecture and dance, would stress the concept of bodily movements relative to a particular type of architectural space or volume. When working together with choreographers and dancers, architects come to recognise that movements cannot only be thought of as those executed by the lower limbs in the ordinary actions of walking, running or sitting, but also those carried out by the torso, arms, hands and head. This collaboration might lead to inspire architectural design which would invite a more fulfilling way of occupying a space. Architecture should be conceived of as a choreography of space and forms that envelops the body in its composition, forming an ‘empty stage’ so to speak, or a performance space, in which a myriad of inhabitants, with their various temporal movements and choreographies are allowed to occupy the architectural spaces in a multiplicity of movements.