Call for papers – Thematic focus on: "Present and Future Rhythms: Exploring the Intersection of Dance and Artificial Intelligence in the Performing Arts"

The Revista Estud(i)os de Dança (RED) launches a thematic focus section dedicated to the theme

"Present and Future Rhythms: Exploring the Intersection of Dance and Artificial Intelligence in the Performing Arts"

We invite researchers, scholars, and practitioners to submit original contributions to the Revista Estud(i)os de Dança (RED), which this year explores the theme of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Performing Arts. The relationship between Dance and AI has intensified, revealing new creative and pedagogical possibilities and challenging us to investigate its potential. This interaction opens a fertile field for innovation while also requiring critical reflection on the ethical, cultural, and aesthetic impacts of these technologies.

Reflection on what AI can offer to dance and performing arts studies extends to consider how dance and performing arts, in turn, can contribute to the understanding and application of AI. Understood as more than a mere tool, AI raises profound questions about its long-term implications: does it enrich or impoverish the arts, dance, and culture? In this context, it becomes essential to discuss the ethics underlying the construction of the body’s image and its interactions with technology.

Pioneers such as Merce Cunningham paved the way by integrating technology into choreographic creation, using software like LifeForms and motion capture techniques. More recently, artists like Wayne McGregor have explored AI directly, as seen in the work Living Archive (McGregor, 2019; Olbrich, 2019; Williams, 2019), which was developed in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture. In this work, algorithms generate new styles based on McGregor's repertoire. Tools such as the EDGE Dance Animator (Myers, 2023) and real-time music co-creation systems (Vechtomova & Bos, 2025) exemplify how AI can assist in composition, analysis, and the preservation of movement. Additionally, platforms like DancingInside have expanded access to dance education, providing real-time feedback and overcoming physical barriers (Yang, 2023), while still maintaining the irreplaceable role of teachers and in-person learning (Kang et al., 2023; Wang, 2024).

In dance, AI has been prominent in choreographic composition, body training, movement analysis, and cultural preservation, while in theatre it is applied in interactive dramaturgies and dynamic scenography. With the advancement of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI), a subset of AI focuses on creating new content through algorithms based on neural network learning, such as Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and Transformers, like GPT, which identify patterns in training data to generate informative outputs.

Overall, AI is useful for artists as support in brainstorming, rehearsal planning, movement generation, and documentation of work, without replacing intuition and acquired experience. However, its growing presence raises ethical concerns regarding copyright, credit, remuneration, and consent. Some criticisms focus on specific impacts of AI, including job loss, creativity, surveillance, inequality, and misuse.

The impact of this technology extends across multiple sectors, from artistic production to scientific advances. Dance liberates the body from social norms and generates new subjectivities, yet AI applications in dance—such as motion capture and digital avatars—can shape subjectivities and suggest a dematerialisation of the body (Gil, 2025). While dancers explore AI’s creative potential in choreography and performance, major companies use the technology to collect movement data, generating both opportunities and ethical challenges for the sector (Wingenroth, 2023).

In this context, this special section of RED seeks to gather contributions that critically reflect on the boundaries and potentials of this intersection. Theoretical essays, project reports, research analyses, and ethical reflections are all welcome.

This is a unique moment to consider the future of dance and the performing arts in dialogue with technology—respecting tradition, fostering innovation, and celebrating the expressive power of the moving body.

Suggested Topics:

The use of AI in body training and movement education
AI tools for choreographic creation and new movement languages
Accessibility and inclusion in the relationship between dance and AI
The role of AI in preserving and cataloguing choreographic heritage
Expanded presence and multisensory experiences
Artistic preservation and archiving with AI
Narratives and creativity with AI
Transdisciplinarity and collaborations with other performing arts fields in dialogue with AI
Global and digital networks of artists interconnected through AI
Ethics and cultural impacts
Corporeality, movement, and digital identity — development of virtual or digital bodies guided by AI

References

Rhizomatiks Research, ELEVENPLAY, & McDonald, K. (2019, April 30). Discrete figures 2019 @GRAY AREA, Grand Theater. Abstract Engine Co., Ltd. https://rhizomatiks.com/en/release/2019/04/30/discrete-figures-2019-gray-area/https://rhizomatiks.com/en/release/2019/04/30/discrete-figures-2019-gray-area/

Gil, J. (2025). Pontas soltas: Inteligência artificial, o outro, revoluções. Relógio d’Água Editores.

Kang, J., Kang, C., Yoon, J., Ji, H., Li, T., Moon, H., Ko, M., & Han, J. (2023). Dancing on the inside: A qualitative study on online dance learning with teacher-AI cooperation. Education and Information Technologies, 28(9), 12111–12141. . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11649-0 .

Olbrich, S. (Text). (2019, April 30). Living Archive: Creating choreography with artificial intelligence. Studio Wayne McGregor. Google Arts & Culture. .https://artsandculture.google.com/story/living-archive-creating-choreography-with-artificial-intelligence-studio-wayne-mcgregor/1AUBpanMqZxTiQ?hl=en

Williams, B. C. (2019). Living Archive [Instalação de vídeo]. The Music Center, Los Angeles. https://bencullenwilliams.net/livingarchive https://bencullenwilliams.net/livingarchive

Myers, A. (2023, 20 de abril). AI-powered EDGE Dance Animator aplica IA generativa à coreografia. Stanford HAI.https://hai.stanford.edu/news/ai-powered-edge-dance-animator-applies-generative-ai-choreography

McGregor, W. (2019, novembro). Living Archive [Experimento interativo]. Google Arts & Culture Lab. https://experiments.withgoogle.com/living-archive-wayne-mcgregor

Vechtomova, O., & Bos, J. (2025, June 13). Reimagining dance: Real-time music co-creation between dancers and AI. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.12008

Yang, Y. (2023, 19 de dezembro). In what ways is AI disrupting the dance industry? Arts Management and Technology Lab. https://amt-lab.org/blog/2023/12/in-what-ways-is-ai-disrupting-the-dance-industry

Wang, Z. (2024). Artificial intelligence in dance education: Using immersive technologies for teaching dance skills. Technology in Society, 77, 102579. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2024.102579

Wingenroth, L. (2023, 28 de julho). How are dance artists using AI—and what could the technology mean for the industry? Dance Magazine. https://www.dancemagazine.com/how-dancers-use-ai/

Fatima Wachowicz is a dancer, researcher, and teacher. She completed her postdoctoral research at Western Sydney University – The MARCS Institute, Australia (CAPES fellow, 2015), where she conducted experimental research and applied methods from cognitive psychology to investigate the cognitive processes that are actively engaged during Viewpoints training. She holds a PhD in Performing Arts from the Postgraduate Program in Performing Arts at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Brazil (2009). Her work focuses on Contact Improvisation and Viewpoints techniques and examines the cognitive processes of attention, perception, and movement memory in dance creation and performance. She is currently a professor at the School of Dance / PPGDança-UFBA and coordinates the research group ARTE: Dance, Cognition, and Creation (@gpartedcc) (CNPq).

Wagner Miranda Dias holds a PhD and a Master’s degree in Communication and Semiotics, with a research focus on Creation Processes in Communication and Culture, from PUC-SP (Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo). He is a specialist in Art History – Theory and Criticism and holds undergraduate degrees in Visual Arts (Licentiate) and Theatre (Licentiate) from Faculdade Paulista de Artes. He trained as an actor at Casa das Artes de Laranjeiras / CAL, Rio de Janeiro, and is a researcher in the Creation Processes Research Group at PUC-SP (CNPq). He works as a professor, art educator, theatre director, actor, set and costume designer, performer, and visual artist. He was a professor in the Art History – Theory and Criticism specialization program at Faculdade Paulista de Artes from 2016 to 2021 and served as an artistic mentor for four editions of the Vocational Theatre Project (2008, 2009, 2011, 2012) of the São Paulo City Department of Culture.

As an actor, he has worked with directors such as Tizuka Yamazaki, Marcio Aurélio, Amir Haddad, Daniela Thomas, Vladimir Capella, Márcio Vianna, Gabriel Villela, and others. He currently directs the Cia de Navegação Teatral, is a collaborating researcher and guest lecturer in the Master’s program in Creation Processes at the Centre for Research in Arts and Communication (CIAC), University of Algarve (UALg), and is a faculty member (graduate and undergraduate) and coordinator of the undergraduate programs in Performing Arts and Cinema & Audiovisual at Centro Universitário Belas Artes de São Paulo. He also teaches in the postgraduate program in Creation Processes at PUC-SP.

He is the author of the book Roberto Alencar: The Body in Transit (2022) and has published articles in journals such as Revista Significação, Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença, Revista Moringa, and Revista Rascunhos: Caminhos da Pesquisa em Artes Cênicas, among others.