Visual and sound gesture in dance communication

ABSTRACT

The present study addresses the impact of multimodal complexity in the transmission of a dance exercise. This study examined what kind of temporal correspondence favors the clarity of a teaching instruction in the context of a dance class. From an autoethnographic perspective, we describe a real learning situation in which a teacher marks (bodily demonstration and verbal counting) a movement exercise for a dancer. We analyze (microanalysis) the components of this marking, considering the model of the visual spatial indicator and the zero velocity and the prosodic components of the voice. It was hypothesized that when the emphasis of the movement and the emphasis of the voice are synchronized in phase this favors the clarity of the instruction. Seventy-five participants – dancers; musicians; non-musicians-non-dancers – evaluated dance exercises (audiovisual clips) with different modes of synchronization between voice and movement following two testing strategies. We found that in-phase exercise markings are significantly easier to follow and understand than when they are not. The work aims to show that a neglect in the multimodal organization of the instruction can generate distortion (noise) between the conceptualization and the perception of the message, putting at risk the result of the communication.

KEYWORDS:

• Dance pedagogy
• multimodality and communication
• collaborative autoethnography
• marking, counting and metrical structures
• zero velocity detection, microanalysis

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. When the metric position occupied by the first sound does not coincide with the first beat of the meter (…) the energy is directed towards a more stable point (Shifres and Burcet 2013, 154).

2. When the starting point of the melody coincides with a stable position in the metrical structure (…) with the first beat of the meter (Shifres and Burcet 2013, 154).

3. For kinds of accents in music, see (Lerdahl and Jackendoff 1983), 17.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundation for Science and Technology Portugal post-doctoral Fellowship [SFRH/BPD/109712/2015] awarded to the first author.

Notes on contributors

Alejandro Grosso Laguna

Alejandro Grosso Laguna. Dancer with training in the Gyrotonic Expansion System, Argentine Tango, and dance musician. He holds a PhD from University of Évora, Portugal, with grant scholarship by Foundation for Science and Technology Portugal (FCT.IP) and a Post-doctoral Fellowship ‘Aspects of communication in multimodal expressive performance: Crossing problems between propositional and non-propositional content’ funded by FCT.IP. He has graduated in Classical Guitar at the Higher Conservatory of Music Manuel de Falla Superior, Argentina, and hold a degree in Music Education at University of Évora, Portugal. He has taught courses at postgraduate (Masters, PhD) level at the Faculty of Human Kinetics (dance department) at University of Lisbon and has taught as invited professor for the Degree on Dance at the Autonomous University of Chiapas, Mexico.

Favio Shifres

Favio Shifres Pianist (Music Conservatory of Buenos Aires) and Orchestral Conductor (Faculty of Arts - National University of La Plata). PhD (University of Roehampton, United Kingdom). Professor of Aural Education, and Comparative Music Education (UNLP) and director of research projects, fellows and postgraduate students at the Laboratory for the Study of Music Experience (UNLP). Professor at several postgraduate programs at FLACSO (Latin-American Faculty of Social Sciences), UBA (University of Buenos Aires) and UNA (National University of Arts) in Argentina. He has also been invited to impart postgraduate courses at other universities in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Spain and the United Kingdom. He is Editor of the journal Epistemus.