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Dance and Immersive Performance: a Multicase Study Of DANCE AND IMMERSIVE PERFORMANCE: A MULTICASE STUDY OF THREE INTERNATIONAL IMMERSIVE PRODUCTIONS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE TEXAS WOMAN’S UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF DANCE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES BY JULIA M. RITTER DENTON, TEXAS DECEMBER 2016 DEDICATION For dance and all its devotees. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I gratefully acknowledge the many individuals who have supported me throughout my doctoral studies. I thank my committee chair, Dr. Rosemary Candelario, whose expertise and guidance was instrumental in shaping my thinking as I worked through large sets of data and interdisciplinary concerns. My thanks also to Dr. Linda Caldwell and Professor Jordan Fuchs for their knowledge, time, and service as members of my dissertation committee. I thank Dr. Penelope Hanstein for inspiring me to pursue my doctoral degree and for her encouragement throughout the process. I am very grateful to my fellow cohort members for inspiring me with their excellent scholarship while modeling generosity and jocosity. Dr. George Stauffer, dean of Mason Gross School of the Arts, has been a staunch advocate of my doctoral studies, and I am thankful for his support as I balanced my research with serving the Dance Department as chair and artistic director. Many thanks to my colleague and friend Dr. Jeffrey Friedman for sharing his expertise on interviewing techniques. I am grateful to Dr. Hervé Guay, editor of Revue Tangence, for emboldening my investigations of dance and immersive performance. My deepest thanks to my family and friends for their patience and understanding. Finally, I am grateful for the kindness and camaraderie of my colleague and friend Dr. Ayrin Ersöz, who is always at the ready to dive into an inspiring conversation. iv ABSTRACT JULIA M. RITTER DANCE AND IMMERSIVE PERFORMANCE: A MULTICASE STUDY OF THREE INTERNATIONAL IMMERSIVE PRODUCTIONS DECEMBER 2016 This dissertation research focuses on the role of dance in immersive productions. The study was prompted by investigation of the extant literature—including scholarly research and critical reviews—which revealed a gap in the literature regarding the role of dance in immersive productions. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact and influence of dance in immersive performance through a multicase study of three contemporary international immersive productions: Sleep No More by Punchdrunk (United Kingdom), Then She Fell by Third Rail Projects (New York), and Dance Marathon by bluemouth inc. (Toronto). The three productions were chosen as case studies for the ways in which dance was prioritized as a primary mode of expression by the artistic directors, including Felix Barrett and Maxine Doyle of Punchdrunk; Zach Morris, Tom Pearson, and Jennine Willett of Third Rail Projects; and Ciara Adams, Stephen O’Connell, Sabrina Reeves, Lucy Simic, and Richard Windeyer of bluemouth inc. The increased popularity of productions that engage audiences differently, particularly through immersion, has prompted this research that explores how dance and choreographic strategies are used as tools to enhance audience experience. v Primary data-gathering techniques included participant observation during performances of these productions; interviews with artistic directors, dancers, and audience members directly engaged with the immersive productions chosen as case studies; and examination of existing literature, including published scholarship, critical reviews, websites, social media sites, and fan blogs. In analyzing each of the three case studies, I draw on theater scholars, including Josephine Machon and Gareth White, as well as current research into trends of audience participation in the arts. Through an integrated process of philosophical questioning and qualitative research design, the study follows a theoretical line of inquiry focused on dance as a strategy of immersion in productions created by artistic directors, performed by dancers, and experienced by audiences. The inclusion of multiple voices allowed for discovery of diverse conceptual and perceptual frameworks for dance and immersive performance, which in turn shed light on the ways in which dance is contributing to the expanding parameters of new audience engagement models. This research contributes to the field of international dance studies for the ways in which it centralizes dance in the discourse surrounding immersive performance and contributes perspectives of dance to immersive performance that have heretofore been largely missing. By contributing to the understanding of the role of dance as a strategy of immersion and its impact on the participation of audiences, issues and insights that emerge from this research may resonate with theorists and practitioners in contemporary performance and the fields of audience, media, cultural, and theater studies, furthering vi analyses of dance in discussions that can yield continued insight for those dedicated to the discipline of dance through both practice and scholarship. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION ....................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................. xi Chapter I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 Chapter Overview ......................................................................................... 7 II. FRAMEWORKS FOR DANCE AND IMMERSIVE PERFORMANCE.......... 10 Considering Terms: Immersive, Spectating and Liveness, Audience Participation ............................................................................................... 11 Immersive Theater and Immersive Performance .................................. 12 Spectating and Liveness ...................................................................... 13 Audience Participation and Participatory Arts Practices ....................... 18 Historical Precedents for Dance and Immersive Practices ............................ 24 Audience Engagement in the Performing Arts ............................................. 37 Dance .................................................................................................. 39 Theater ................................................................................................ 40 Mixed-Reality Performance ................................................................. 43 Considering Coauthorship in Performance .................................................. 45 III. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................... 49 Research Purpose ........................................................................................ 49 Research Design ......................................................................................... 49 Qualitative Methods for Data Collection.............................................. 53 Additional Data Collection Methods .................................................... 62 Interview Preparation .................................................................................. 65 Research Participant Recruitment ........................................................ 70 Interview Process ................................................................................ 74 Data Analysis .............................................................................................. 75 viii Interviews ........................................................................................... 78 Emerging Themes for Analysis and Their Representation in the Following Chapters ............................................................................. 82 IV. THE TANDEM DANCE: STUDYING THE MOVEMENT OF SPECTATORS AND PERFORMERS IN PUNCHDRUNK’S SLEEP NO MORE ..................... 84 Conceptualizing the Tandem Dance: The Collaboration of Felix Barrett and Maxine Doyle ............................................................................................. 87 Structuring the Tandem Dance: Defining the “Track” and the “Score” ........ 91 Containing the Tandem Dance: The Language of Space ............................ 107 Challenging the Tandem Dance: Questions about Improvisation and Intention.................................................................................................... 110 V. THE ACTION FRAMEWORK: ANALYZING CHOREOGRAPHY AS “CAPTURE” IN THIRD RAIL PROJECT’S THEN SHE FELL ..................... 117 Choreographing the Action Framework: A World for “Intuitive Engagement” ............................................................................................ 121 Capturing the Audience: Choreography’s Function in the Action Framework ................................................................................................ 136 The White Rabbit .............................................................................. 145 Alice, Bathing ................................................................................... 148 Experiences of the Action Framework: Perceiving Interactivity and Intimacy ...................................................................................................
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