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<p>This article discusses how the term ‘curiosity’ emerged as a leading element in the development of the action performance research project <italic>Microgravity</italic>. The focus is on the effect of curiosity as an activator of movement in a participatory performance in which participants are invited to explore new bodily conditions for the first time (in this case, reduced gravity through a vertical dance technique). I begin with an account of what vertical dance is, its origin, and my personal experience as a vertical dancer. Through the connection between vertical dance and space exploration and an encounter with the terms ‘awe’ and ‘wonder’ (in connection to space travel), I move on to pedagogical and creative decisions regarding ways to create a participatory performance that, due to its complete physical involvement of participants, I now refer to as an ‘action performance’. I will elaborate on the creative partners who joined the research and the interplay of curiosity and humility in relation to the terms ‘awe’ and ‘wonder’ based on the book <italic>A Neurophenomenology of Awe and Wonder</italic> (Gallagher et al. 2015), which was the initial inspiration for the use of these terms and the establishment of the imaginary universe of <italic>Microgravity</italic>. I will also employ my own interpretation of these terms as a researcher, drawing on first-hand participatory experiments and data gathered from participants between 2019 and 2022.</p>
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This article discusses how the term ‘curiosity’ emerged as a leading element in the development of the action performance research project Microgravity. The focus is on the effect of curiosity as an activator of movement in a participatory performance in which participants are invited to explore new bodily conditions for the first time (in this case, reduced gravity through a vertical dance technique). I begin with an account of what vertical dance is, its origin, and my personal experience as a vertical dancer. Through the connection between vertical dance and space exploration and an encounter with the terms ‘awe’ and ‘wonder’ (in connection to space travel), I move on to pedagogical and creative decisions regarding ways to create a participatory performance that, due to its complete physical involvement of participants, I now refer to as an ‘action performance’. I will elaborate on the creative partners who joined the research and the interplay of curiosity and humility in relation to the terms ‘awe’ and ‘wonder’ based on the book A Neurophenomenology of Awe and Wonder (Gallagher et al. 2015), which was the initial inspiration for the use of these terms and the establishment of the imaginary universe of Microgravity. I will also employ my own interpretation of these terms as a researcher, drawing on first-hand participatory experiments and data gathered from participants between 2019 and 2022.

Unfolding Microgravity and the Interplay Between Awe, Wonder, Curiosity, and Humility in Artistic Research

Nordic Journal of Dance

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This article discusses how the term ‘curiosity’ emerged as a leading element in the development of the action performance research project Microgravity. The...

Unfolding Microgravity and the Interplay Between Awe, Wonder, Curiosity, and Humility in Artistic Research

Published Online: Aug 10, 2023

Page range: 74 - 83

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/njd-2023-0008

© 2023 Esther Wrobel, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.