Why Not Research Talks´23: Peter Thestrup Waade

Why Not Research Talks´23: Let´s talk about Dance, Brain and Music.
This event was part of Why Not Aarhus Lindy Exchange 2023 - our annual Lindy Hop festival in Aarhus.
Peter Thestrup Waade is a PhD student at Aarhus University working on the project on movement coordination in Lindy Hop (involving Tango and Salsa) that relies on motion capture technology to measure the movements of the dancers.
The Talk: Synchrony, synergy and coupling in Lindy Hop: Motion capture for the scientific research of partnered dance
In the scientific study of human social behavior, experiments have often been extremely simple. People have to coordinate button pushes or finger tapping, or perform some simple game together. However, what is often ultimately of interest is real, dynamic and complex social coordination - like partner dance. This talk presents an ongoing research project on movement coordination in Lindy Hop (and some tango and salsa too) that relies on motion capture technology to measure the movements of the dancers. What makes dancers feel connected? Is synchronization what matters in the end, or something else? Can we pinpoint the leading cues in the movements? What happens when you introduce follower initiative? We’ll present very preliminary results, and the plans for the future, in attempting to answer questions like these.