The specific goal of the article is to investigate the principles governing the perception of rhythmic structure in dance and music—taken separately and together—on the basis of a case study. I take as a starting point Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s (A generative theory of tonal music. MIT Press, 1983) conception of musical rhythm as the interaction between grouping and meter, and I examine to what extent it can apply to dance. Then, I explore how the rhythmical structures of music and dance (...) interact in a single event. I conclude that dance and music perception largely share the same abstract system, and the differences in the properties of their structure derives from the different (visual vs. auditory) modalities in which they are perceived; their modality difference also affects the perceived structure resulting from their combination in dance-music events. The exploration is guided by a detailed examination of the opening of Stravinsky’s _Augurs of Spring_ (1913) as choreographed by Nijinsky (1913), Béjart (1970) and Bausch (1975). By comparing these minimal pairs of dance-music events, I adapt the formal methodology of linguistics to other cognitive systems. The general goal of the article is to shed further light on the organizational principles of mental representations by comparing several cognitive systems in order to distinguish between general cognitive properties and modality-specific or domain-specific properties. (shrink)

This paper argues that for both creators of a choreomusical work, a collaborative creative process must be worthwhile, enjoyable, or contribute something unique to motivate artists to collaborate at a time where, to some degree, technology negates the necessity to do so. Therefore, the scholar interested in choreomusical relationships should also be interested in collaborative, creative methods. The research considers cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary working processes in music and dance in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to enquire into the ways that (...) choreomusical relationships have developed for composers and choreographers working collaboratively. It asks whether there are factors which should be considered in a collaborative working method between composer and choreographer to achieve a co-creative endeavor which is satisfactory for both parties. Satisfactory, co-creative results are defined by the satisfaction of both collaborators throughout the creative process, regardless of the end result. These questions were addressed both through historical analysis of collaborations within contemporary dance, and exploration of how choreomusical collaboration can be successful or unsuccessful in terms of co-creation and the satisfaction of each party within current artistic practice. Informed practical research and the use of journals coincide with a grounded theory approach: through analysis of both sets of data, factors which help and hinder choreomusical collaboration in terms of co‑creative approaches were identified. The results of this analysis are presented in a spectrum model of possible working relationships between composer and choreographer; this paper applies this to case studies identified within the research in terms of cognitive innovation. (shrink)