The relationship between the dancers’ and the audience’s aesthetic experience

Abstract

The study investigates the aesthetic experience of a dance performance from the perspective of both the dancers and the audience. The audience observed three short custom-made choreographies that were presented live and then watched the recorded versions, and judged them on an instrument designed to measure the aesthetic experience of dance. The choreographies were performed by six dancers. The dancers judged their own performances as well as the recorded versions of the performances. The analyses revealed that the dancers’ aesthetic experience of a dance performance is similar when they perform choreography and watch it on video. On the other hand, the audience showed a higher sensitivity to live performance: they judged the live performance higher on all dimensions of aesthetic experience compared to their video presentation.

Keywords

• aesthetic experience
• choreographies
• dancer
• audience
• proprioception