Visualisation for the dancer: image-based technologies as support to dancer training

Imagery in dance training has generally been a relationship between the teacher's suggestion and the dancer's imagination. With the development of technology-enabled visualisation techniques, dancers can acquire a more objective view of the movements and position of their bodies, without being distracted by extraneous information. Visualisation technologies have become accepted and standardised practice in various sporting activities, and is accepted as a method of preparing for physical activity. 1 In dance and sport there is a powerful relationship between mental and physical performance. 2 The concept of visualisation as described in many classical texts and academic papers leads the performer through an internal journey of performing the act with a view to enhancing the exterior performance which is about to be delivered. If it were possible to complement this accepted method of dancer training by creating 3 dimensional models of movement from which dancers could learn and teachers could assess training needs, visualisation as a psychological construct could potentially be made more powerful. This paper discusses the possibilities for using existing visualisation technologies to support dancer training, in particular their suitability in complementing existing visualisation techniques and teacher interaction, based on practical experiments with student dancers performing arabesques.

The arabesque position was selected for analysis as the classic movement of ballet, and one that has sufficient complexity and detail for dancers to misinterpret body positions. In addition, the temporal frame is short enough for the technologies utilised to capture the essential body movements in sufficient repetition to gauge progress. By focussing on the Arabesque, the researchers were aware that most of the action takes place outside of the line of sight, potentially giving clear results of the effectiveness or otherwise of the combination of instruction and visual feedback.