Direct and indirect methods for measuring audience reactions to contemporary dance

Contemporary dance – an artform where the major medium is movement, deliberately and systematically cultivated for its own sake – provides a complex, challenging but rich context for investigation of human perception and cognition (Hanna, 2008; McCarthy et al. 2006). In this paper, we outline two different techniques that have been applied to gauge psychological responses to Australian contemporary dance. The first direct and explicit questionnaire method can be administered after a live or recorded performance, and the second indirect, implicit method is useful in the context of dance film. Both techniques may be used to record and analyse perceptual and psychological responses to other artforms such as music, drama, cinema, new media, and multimedia. Detailed explanatory reports of the techniques are in the process of being published (Glass, 2006; Stevens et al. 2010).

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