Bodysoundscape. Perception, movement and audiovisual developments in contemporary dance

Starting from an interdisciplinary perspective of methodological integration of the concepts of body and sound in the contemporary dance scene, this paper will attempt to define the general aesthetic notion of sonorous body. Through a survey of some key practices from the contemporary dance scene such as: choreographic compositions by Wayne McGregor, Danièle Desnoyers, Ginette Laurin, Dumb Type, Angelin Preljocaj or Cindy Van Acker – and others –I will analyse the relation with the audiovisual dimension developed in the work by electronic sound artists such as Scanner, Ryoji Ikeda, Granular Synthesis or Mika Vainio. Such integration can be described as a combination of events and relations dealing with technology where audio and visual overlap and compose in order to determine a scene no longer based on form but on a fluid circulation of tensions and intensities of elements as diverse as movement, sight and sound and determine it. This audiovisual and choreographical movement/tension is the focus of this paper, and it is defined as the sonorous body. This concept can be read through two interpretations. In the first one, the sound is a body: in this perspective the sound for the electronic scene is an acoustic material; from the other point of view the body is a sound: in this case the body produces the soundscape of a scene. In this sense we have a series of modifications that influence both the performer's perception as well as that of the spectator. In this scenario, the composition is a tension between the visible and the invisible, between the audible and inaudible that is manifested on the scene as a magnetic field. I will argue that this analytic perspective changes the point of view and the methodology of looking at contemporary dance and ultimately also the concept of listening.