Appraising the aesthetics of human movement: an application to contemporary dance using a motion capture system

Abstract

The present study describes a way of appraising the aesthetic meaning of dance motor skills generated by professional modern dancers. Using a motion capture system (Vicon MX), both real images and 3D stick figures were simultaneously obtained from 96 trials of dance motor skills performed by four experienced contemporary dancers. Subsequently, 101 students of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences used semantic differentials to appraise the aesthetic value of each type of motor dance skill, comparing the virtual and real images of dancers.