Contemporary dance, unlike ballet, is not always immediately accessible or easily interpreted by the general public. So, what determines whether audiences enjoy a contemporary dance performance? To explore this question, an interdisciplinary research team from the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, conducted a study using live performances to examine what appeals to viewers about contemporary dance. Their findings revealed that both objective elements and personal perceptions influence audience enjoyment. The results were recently published in the journal Cognition.
The performances were observed by approximately 40 individuals in person at the MPIEA, while a similar number watched remotely via live stream. Each audience experienced six renditions of the same choreography: twice performed live on stage by a dancer from the Staatstheater Kassel, twice shown as an animated avatar of the dancer on a screen, and twice as a pre-recorded video of the same dancer. After each sequence, viewers completed a questionnaire assessing their impressions of the performance.
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Publication:
Christensen, J. F., Schmidt, E.-M., Frieler, K., Smith-Chase, R. A., Sancho-Escanero, L., Michalareas, G., Ullén, F., & Cross, E. S. (2025). Aesthetic Appeal of Dance Actions Depends on Expressivity, Liveness and Audience Characteristics. Cognition, 263, 106152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106152
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