O Body Swayed to Music (and Vice Versa): Roles for the Computer in Dance

DANCE MAY BE THE ART FORM CLOSEST TO THE HUMAN ORGANISM. BUT does its primal nature make it inherently resistant to computerization? Many dancers feel apprehension, if not antipathy, towards the computer for encroaching into their world. From the author’s perspective as a choreographer working with computers, this is not without some justification. Yet he can also see the computer as a champion to the cause, reintroducing elements of interactivity that, while common to its primitive forms, have largely disappeared from dance. He describes his work in the context of a field reticent to embrace evolving technologies.