Dancing Chineseness and Techno-Choreography

This book delves into the embodiment of Chineseness in digital performance, utilising the innovative methodology of ‘techno-choreography.’ This research critically examines professionally trained dancing bodies in Chinese dance from the vantage point of cultural transexperience. It offers profound discussions of Chineseness through an unprecedented lens, advancing a suite of choreographic tools beneficial for both academic and practical inquiries. The methodology of techno-choreography employed draws from theories as well as applications of interactivity, immersion, virtual reality, and motion capture systems. It perceives intercultural dancing bodies and cultural artefacts, such as chopsticks, gaoqiao, handkerchiefs, fans, and red silks, as interfaces during the dance composition process enacted within computational system environments. Insights are derived from full-length dance works created by the author: X-Body (2018), Mourning for a dead moon (2019), Unexpected Bodies (2020) and Being River (2024). This volume grapples with pertinent cultural and artistic questions including how Chineseness contributes to the process of techno-choreography, how technology affects the embodiment of Chineseness, and what Chineseness might be in the context of techno-choreography. This book will be indispensable for scholars and practitioners across disciplines such as dance, theatre, performance, music, and human–computer interaction, as well as for those enthralled by technology-imbued compositions.