| dc.description.abstract | Dance has featured on screen for decades: this phenomenon is also called screendance. Screendance is essentially characterised by manipulating time, space and bodily movement of a live dance performance. Moreover, the screen functions as a barrier between the performance and the viewer experience, which omits the aspect of liveness that is traditionally connected to dance. However, due to recent developments in digital technologies, screendance now has the possibility to be livestreamed, and therefore, to return the aspect of liveness to the experience. Liveness is understood here as a construction, and feeling of connection is what makes a live broadcast appealing according to Karin van Es, which consists both of virtual and social presence.
In order to gain insight into how livestream screendance can be optimised in the future, this thesis will explore which elements of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s Drumming together create a sense of liveness and how this feeling of connection, as described by Van Es, is constructed. Drumming is a dance performance, performed by de Keersmaeker’s dance company Rosas, which was streamed on YouTube Live to the circumstances concerning COVID-19. In order to see which elements contribute to liveness, I focused on different elements such as choreography, filmic techniques and digital affordances of YouTube Live to guide the analysis. By focusing on these elements, I analysed how they can together create a feeling of connection with both the livestream itself and other audience members, and how this contributes to the sense of liveness. I will argue that livestream screendance can create a sense of liveness through technology which supports social interaction and through artistic choices that create a sense of virtual presence and human connection. This can make the performing arts, including dance, more accessible for people who don’t have the ability to visit a physical theatre. | |
