Annotating the captured dance: reflections on the role of tool-creation

ABSTRACT

The WhoLoDancE project was a three-year EU-funded project that bridges dance with research in movement computing. One of the outcomes of this project was a web-based Movement Library that includes a large number of motion-captured sequences of contemporary dance, ballet, Greek folk and flamenco, and allows the users to annotate the content by selecting predefined tags or writing new ones. During the different stages of the project, such as defining specific movement sequences to capture, developing the conceptual framework for the analysis, and designing interfaces for learning, language applied to dance was a key aspect to drive research. In this paper, we reflect on how the annotation tool and the whole process provides an instrument to study the contexts and procedures for conceptualising dance. We envision that dance annotation based on language, creates new opportunities for ethnographic and practice-based participatory research.

KEYWORDS:

• Dance
• annotation
• language
• movement vocabulary
• motion capture

Acknowledgements

This paper builds upon the outcomes of our partnership in the WhoLoDancE project (wholodance.eu) which was funded by the European Commission within the H2020 Programme, under the Grant Agreement no 688865. Special thanks to Amalia Markatzi for bringing to this project her deep knowledge and passion for Greek dance, Dr. Rosemary Cisneros, Ruth Gibson, Marianne Masson, Jean-Marc Matos, Muriel Romero, and Prof. Sarah Whatley for their valuable contribution on bodily knowledge, their dedication and continuous commitment. We also thank our colleagues Dr. Akrivi Katifori, Dimitris Nastos, Aristotelis Kasomoulis and Marianna Rezkalla, as well as our partners Dr. Michelle Buccoli, Prof. Antonio Camurri, Prof. Edwin Morley-Fletcher, Pablo Palacio, Dr. Stefano di Pietro, Prof. Augusto Sarti, Dr. Massimiliano Zanoni, and Oshri Even Zohar.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE) – https://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/areas-of-research/centre-for-dance-research/.

2 K.Danse Pluridisciplinary Company – https://www.k-danse.net/en/.

3 Instituto Stocos – https://www.stocos.com/en/the-company/.

4 Lykeion Ton Hellenidon (Lyceum Club of Greek Women) – https://lykeionellinidon.com/.

5 http://www.skinnerreleasing.com/.

6 https://vimeo.com/185616664, https://vimeo.com/185611733, https://vimeo.com/185500401.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katerina El Raheb

Katerina El Raheb is a postdoc researcher with interests in Human Computer Interaction, user-centered design, movement-based interactions, semantic representation, ontologies, applications for tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage and the intersection of Computing with Arts and Humanities. She holds a PhD from the Department of Informatics & Telecommunications on “Conceptual and Experiential Dance Languages: Representation and Interaction”, and an MSc in Advanced Information Systems, from the same department. She completed her BSc in Chemical Engineering (NTUA). Since 2009 she has worked as a researcher and project manager in several EU funded projects related to Digital Libraries, Data Research Infrastructures and ICT for Cultural Heritage, Dance Education and Movement Analysis. She is currently an adjunct lecturer at the Department of Performing and Digital Arts at the Fine Arts School - University of Peloponnese in Greece (2019–2021). She holds a Diploma from N. Kontaxaki Higher Professional Dance School and is an active dance practitioner.

Yannis Ioannidis

Yannis Ioannidis is the President and General Director of the “Athena” Research and Innovation Center as well as a Professor at the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. His research interests include Database and Information Systems, Data Science, Data and Text Analytics, Scalable Data Processing, Data Infrastructures and Digital Repositories, and Recommender Systems and Personalization, topics on which he has published over 160 articles in leading journals and conferences and also holds three patents. His work is often inspired by and applied to data management and analysis problems that arise in industrial environments or in the context of other scientific fields (Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Biodiversity, Cultural Heritage). He has been the coordinator and legal entity head of OpenAIRE, which implements the European policies on open access to research publications and data, a key partner in the Human Brain Project flagship initiative, and a coordinator or partner in tens of other European and national research and innovation projects. He has also led or is currently leading the creation of new international or spin-off companies.