Performance Studies and Immersive Practices
Summary
Performance studies and immersive practices encompass a transdisciplinary investigation of how bodies, technologies and spaces converge to produce meaning, emotion and social engagement. Rooted in dramaturgy, anthropology and media theory, this field extends from traditional stagecraft to participatory installations, virtual and augmented realities, telematic networks and algorithmic environments. Central concerns include embodiment and presence, the circulation of affect between performer and participant, and the reconfiguration of spatial and temporal boundaries. Researchers examine how immersive scenarios can reframe spectators as co-creators, enabling novel forms of agency and community. Practical applications range from therapeutic choreography and digital heritage exhibitions to remote collaborations across continents. The ongoing convergence of critical theory, design research and emergent technologies opens new avenues for ethically grounded, socially responsive performances that blur the distinction between artwork and lived experience.
Research from Nature Portfolio
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Research from all publishers
Recent studies have explored the comparative strengths of live and mediated dance presentations. One investigation tested live performance, screen projection and virtual imaging in dance education, finding that while physical stage presence excels in conveying spatial dynamics, virtual simulations overcome geographic barriers and screen-based renderings enhance chromatic detail. Another project developed a telepresence stage that links performers in separate locations via chromakey and custom 3D environments. This approach frees bodies from videoconference constraints, enables synchronous rehearsals and performances, and suggests post-pandemic applications for hybrid company work and decentralised creation. A third enquiry introduced live coding as a performative dissection of data and machine-learning algorithms. By exposing computational processes in real time, this work immerses audiences in the unfolding structures of code, generating a hybrid aesthetic that blends early anatomical epistemologies with contemporary audiovisual dramaturgy. Together, these examples illustrate how immersive practices extend across embodied, networked and algorithmic domains, offering practitioners modular strategies to reimagine participation, co-presence and the ontology of performance.
Performance Studies and Immersive Practices publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in performance studies and immersive practices across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Telematic performance: A live event in which participants in different locations are linked by networked audio-visual systems to create a unified presentation.
Virtual imaging technology: Digital systems that generate three-dimensional simulations of environments or bodies for visualisation and interaction.
Immersive environment: A space—physical or virtual—designed to envelop participants and encourage multi-sensory engagement within a narrative or conceptual framework.
Live coding: A practice of programming in real time as a performative act, revealing and manipulating code to generate immediate audio-visual output.
References
- The Transformation and Application of Virtual and Reality in Creative Teaching: A New Interpretation of the Triadic Ballet. Education Sciences (2023).
- A Telepresence Stage: or how to create theatre in a pandemic – project report. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media (2021).
- Designing ‘Critical’ Heritage Experiences: Immersion, Enchantment and Autonomy. Archaeology International (2020).
- Dance as therapy: embodiment, kinesthetic empathy and the case of contact improvisation. Adaptive Behavior (2018).
- Anatomical Intelligence: Live coding as performative dissection. Organised Sound (2023).
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