Dance-Making on the Internet: Can On-Line Choreographic Projects Foster Creativity in the User-Participant?

Abstract

Interactive Internet artworks invite viewers to become involved as user-participants as the creative process unfolds. Through analysis of selected Internet projects, the authors discuss the potential for facilitating an interactive, creative experience for participants in the process of making dance. This study was carried out in 1998 and 1999, but the findings remain relevant, as there have been few subsequent developments in the field.

The Internet is an increasingly pervasive medium, utilizing multimedia technologies in global communication. In keeping with their past exploration of other media, dance-makers are examining the possibilities of this platform. However, most dance on the Internet is presented on the World Wide Web and screened in the form of dance video, created with the constraints and possibilities of video in mind. This use of the Web offers no new opportunities in movement form and content beyond those already being explored by videodance artists. Indeed, the cheaper and more commonly available hardware and software for video capture and compression place great limitations on the feasible quality and length of video presentations on the Web. If it is not to take hours downloading via modem, each video clip must last only a few seconds and be presented in a window that is considerably smaller than the full screen. Cutting-edge technology and faster Internet connections improve the quality, but they are expensive and still not common in the home environment. Why, then, should dance artists be interested in the Web as a dance platform at all? The answer lies in the possibilities for exploring creativity through interaction with the viewer.

The study presented here was carried out between October 1998 and March 1999. Although some time has elapsed since the original research period, the study remains relevant [1].

The Study

The focus of this study was the level of creative involvement that the participant experiences in the process of dance-making via the Internet. The study examined whether an interactive dance-making web site can provide a creative experience for people with widely varying levels of dance knowledge. Given the limited number of examples of this type of project, it is clear that generalized conclusions cannot be drawn from a study of this size. However, the study does identify issues for consideration in the design of further interactive Internet dance-making projects and provides a basis for ongoing research in this area.

A survey of interactive Internet projects that involved the participant in the dance-making process found only five web sites within this category. Three projects were selected: Stephan Koplowitz's Webbed Feats and its presentation Bytes of Bryant Park, Richard Lord's Progressive 2 and Amanda Steggell's M@ggie's Love Bytes [2]. These three projects exemplify three main approaches to interactive dance-making on the Internet. Bytes of Bryant Park uses the web site as a base for the collection of data, which is then used by the choreographer to create a dance in the absence of the participant's involvement. Progressive 2 provides pre-recorded movie segments that the user can arrange on the web site for his or her personal viewing. M@ggie's Love Bytes web site is the base for a series of Internet performances within which participants may become involved in real time by logging on at the correct time and taking part. We analyzed each project to discover whether a model providing an optimum creative experience for the participant currently exists [3].

Methodology for Analysis

In order to evaluate participants' experiences of the Internet dance-making process, we asked five people to participate in all three web sites. We observed their interactions with the sites and then interviewed them about their experiences, with emphasis on discovering their feelings of creative involvement in the process and product. As Webbed Feats' Bytes of Bryant Park had already taken place, the interviewees viewed the original site and participated as if the performance had not yet occurred. In the case of M@ggie's Love Bytes, the interviewees visited the web site and listened to...