By By Madeleine Dardeau ’20 and Madelyn Klumb ‘20

RESEARCH QUESTION

In an individual’s everyday life, distractions cause many unnoticed effects. These may include loss of information and confusion. In situations that only occur once, such as a dance performance, the effects of distractions can be detrimental because the information presented in the situation will never be repeated identically. Our research answers two questions concerning technological distractions during performances. The first question addresses how the effects of technological interruptions can be conveyed through the movement of dance. It was hypothesized that the utilization of dance movements inspired by the human use of devices would provide a visual representation of the effects of technological distractions on social interactions, such as conversations, communication, and exchanges. Dance choreography was developed to reflect the usage of cell phones, smartwatches, laptops, and headphones. The second question addresses how the usage of technology affects the audience’s attention in a performance setting. It was hypothesized that the presence of technological distractions in the audience would cause spectators to miss singular moments within the piece. To test this hypothesis, devices, such as cell phones, smartwatches, and laptops, were given to pre-selected audience members during the performance and were used to distract the spectators from the choreography. At the conclusion of the performance, participants were asked to complete a survey about how the technological distractions affected their overall focus, in addition to participating in a Q&A session.

BACKGROUND

Technology has become increasingly integrated in individuals’ lives and is observably more prevalent in the lives of younger generations. In particular, Generation Z, which consists of individuals born between 1995 and 2015, is greatly impacted by the use of technology.¹ Although Generation Z experiences the greatest impacts, the high usage of technology has resulted in decreased attention spans, increased distractedness, and increased loneliness and depression in individuals from all generations.²^,³^,⁴

In a performance setting, the use of technological devices may prevent some audience members from connecting with the presented work because they become distracted by events happening outside of the performance, such as ringtones and flashing phone screens. Interruptions within the audience during performances have become increasingly problematic.⁵ The owner of the device and other spectators become distracted from the performance. These disruptions are detrimental to a spectator's reception of the work because details within the work are missed, causing the choreographer’s ideas to be improperly received. Because a dance performance will never be repeated identically again, the absence of these details can often leave spectators to misinterpret the true meaning of the work.

DANCE CHOREOGRAPHY WAS DEVELOPED TO REFLECT THE USAGE OF CELL PHONES, SMARTWATCHES, LAPTOPS, AND HEADPHONES.

EXHIBITION

The choreography for our research project was inspired by common technological devices and their effects on social interactions. Dance majors at Texas A&M University performed the choreography on March 5, 2020 (Figure 1). The first section of the dance introduced everyday life with technology. As the section progressed, the dancers became engrossed with their devices and their physical interactions ceased to exist. In the second section, the dancers introduced a new idea of fixed patterns and routines caused by technological interruptions. A few dancers broke free from their distracted routines and attempted to pull others from their trances. While some individuals escaped technology's grasp, others remained trapped.

The lighting for this piece conveyed the physical isolation and distracted routine caused by technology. This was completed by changing the level of the lights, and the color of the background screen to match the mood of the sections in the piece. At the beginning of the performance, the lights moved with the dancers. However, as the piece became somber and the dancers became interrupted, the lights separated the dancers from each other. The piece ended with the lights in the same orientation as the beginning to show that technology traps us in a trance-like routine. The costumes chosen for this piece were based on the idea of unison and everyday individuals. The dancers represented mundane individuals who continue the same routine due to technology encapsulating their lives. The dancers wore plain black leggings and white long-sleeved shirts to better represent the idea of technology creating a monotonous life for individuals. Monotony is demonstrated by the lack of color in the costumes, which mirrored the aesthetics of technological devices. The unison of the costumes signified the choice we made to prevent one dancer from standing out among the rest, which shows a sense of normalcy and simplicity.

A poster was created to advertise the live performance. Scott Shellhamer’s Distractions (n.d.), as shown in Figure 2, is the image used for the background.⁶ The interpretation of the art and the colors used throughout the painting provided the basis for the selection of the piece. Our interpretation of the art is that an individual's attention can be focused on an entire array of possibilities; however, when technological devices distract a person, the number of possibilities decreases and a person is less likely to socially engage with the others around them. This concept is represented by the black box in the artwork because it draws a spectator's focus from the details in the white background to the center of the piece.

The survey completed after the performance consisted of short-answer and rating scale questions. Respondents were asked to rate their magnitude of enjoyment of the piece, their ability to focus on the piece, and their ability to find the meaning behind the work. These questions were rated on a scale of one to seven, where a one represented lower results and seven represented higher results. For example, when a respondent was asked to rate their enjoyment of the piece, a higher result indicated that they had a more positive response to the work.

Certain audience members were planted to cause distractions. These spectators sent and received text messages, used computers, received phone calls, examined smartwatches, and listened to music through headphones. These pre-selected participants were distributed throughout the audience and were instructed when to engage with their devices to optimize the disruptive effects.

Results

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Figure 1. Figure Caption

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Analysis

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Figure 2. Figure Caption

Discussion and Conclusion

Acknowledgments

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References

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3. EXAMPLE REF: World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository. “Incidence of Malaria in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Incidence of Malaria Data. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.MLR.INCD.P3?locations=CD.

Exploration of Technological Distractions Through Dance