The end of choreography

Abstract

The End of Choreography is a commissioned video (2013, https://vimeo.com/80257439), a lecture presentation (2015) and a performative essay (2016). As a PaR project concerned with choreography in the expanded field, these multiple manifestations problematize the notion of the artwork, questioning what impact context has on the reading and the meaning of a work. In this provocation I mix images with written text, use references from different disciplines and historical eras, quote well-known international theorists and philosophers alongside local choreographers and dance practitioners. I also refer to pieces I have seen, read about and participated in. Thus, I create a variety of contexts and reference points, questioning the meaning, value and purpose of choreography at the beginning of the twenty-first century. For this written version of The End of Choreography I collaborated with a graphic designer to present the work in a different medium, exploring the potentialities of translating the video onto the page as a textual document. Rather than presenting a closed argument, my aim is to trigger a debate about the current state of affairs in the field, whether this be the end, or future, of choreography.

Understanding Esports Teamplay as an Emergent Choreography

“…The combination of game play and dance may seem farfetched, but Kirkpatrick (2011) suggests that all video game play is a form of dance. In fact, the notion of choreography has been discussed as being 'expanded' for already over a decade (Hildebrandt 2016;Østern 2018;Rouhiainen and Østern 2020) and the structural possibilities of choreography has moved beyond the dance field into, among other fields, game studies (Birringer 2006;Kirkpatrick 2011;Snowdon 2019). Additionally, there are game studies using a notion, or closely related notion(s), of choreography to analyze and/or discuss diverse collaborative and coordinative phenomena, for example, the choreography between players, on-screen actions, offscreen actions and contexts of play (Bennerstedt and Ivarsson 2010;Giddings 2007;Giddings and Kennedy 2008;Linderoth and Bennerstedt 2007;N.…”

“…We display the interconnectedness between the actions and understand how geographically dispersed participants interweave actions onto, and into, each other as they coordinate their team play in-and-through their on-screen actions and a Discord voice channel. To do this, we incorporate an understanding of expanded choreography developed within the field of dance (Hildebrandt 2016;Østern 2018;Rouhiainen and Østern 2020) and draw on the structural possibilities of choreography to understand the actions, collaboration, and coordination in the players' game play. Understanding individual players' actions and team actions as part of a larger, emergent, choreography may help us to better realize how CS:GO players orient towards the rich and complex audiovisual contexts in-game as they reach a mutual understanding with their team regarding their current and next actions.…”