DANCING CYBORGS, ROBOTS, AVATARS, AND HOLOGRAMS: RECONFIGURING AUDIENCE RECEPTION IN PERFORMING ARTS
DANCING CYBORGS, ROBOTS, AVATARS, AND HOLOGRAMS: RECONFIGURING AUDIENCE RECEPTION IN PERFORMING ARTS

Summary/Abstract: “To dance is human” (Hanna, 1979), but dancers on stage may be cyborgs,robots, avatars, or holograms. The boundaries between these creatures and their creatorsare sometimes blurred (voluntarily or not). The phenomenon is not new, but advancesin technology (including AI, deep fake) broadens their use, strengthens this confusionand deepens the “uncanny valley” (Mori, 1970). If (modern, post-modern and contempo-rary) dance is challenging traditional spectatorship schemes in performing arts (oftenbased on finding narrative interpretations), these “unidentified dancing beings” emphasizedance specificities, forcing the spectators to question their relationship with dancingmovements and their authors and the semiotic processes through which these movementsacquire meaning. This paper analyses the example of ROBOT (a piece choreographed byBlanca Li) and underlines how this shift is editing spectator’s routine when attendingperforming arts in general and dance in particular, from both a semiotic and signification-oriented perspective.

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