Welcome to the Bodily Futures webpage!
Here, we embrace interdisciplinary and artistic research projects that foster dialogue across diverse cultural backgrounds, professional fields, and areas of expertise. Our goal is to challenge traditional approaches to creation and innovation.
Bodily Futures: Dance & AI (2023) marks the first of many exciting ventures. Explore the practice, process, and outcomes of this project as you scroll down. Thank you for joining us!
In Contemporary Dance, movement habits are progressively inherited and ingrained over time. These habits provide a reliable foundation, growing in quality and depth through consistent training and exposure to diverse choreographic experiences.
Much like an artisan who refines their craft through accumulated practice, the contemporary dancer develops an extensive repertoire of movement skills and approaches. Over time, this leads to remarkable kinetic efficiency, precision, and dependability. However, repetitive practice and the acquisition of specific skills can also solidify habitual body patterns, potentially limiting creative exploration and decision-making.
Bodily Futures: Dance & AI is an interdisciplinary research project that integrates contemporary dance, science, and technology to challenge and expand creative decision-making in the moving body. This year-long project brings together a dance researcher, a cognitive linguist, a computer engineer, and five contemporary dance artists to examine subjective decision-making in dance practices while using artificial models as tools to disrupt ingrained habits.
The project explores how AI models can predict movement patterns and offer novel choreographic possibilities. Using dance data generated by contemporary dancers guided by cognitive tasks from an invented approach, the Body Logic Method (BL Method), the research highlights the potential of merging technology with live art. Specifically, it examines how AI can influence creative decision-making and reshape embodied cognition in contemporary dance-making.
We would also like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the dancers, Inês Pedruco, Luís Guerra, Marta João Guimarães, Tiago Coelho, and Valter Fernandes, whose generosity and creative expertise made this research possible, and to Pedro Rodrigues, who so generously gave us his time to record all of our dance-data on film.
This project was funded by: IDI&CA2023 - Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, IPL/ Project Reference:
IPL/IDI&CA2023/Método BL_ESD.
This introductory video highlights the core focus of our research project. It explores the challenges of contemporary dance, including its inherited movement patterns, Body Logics, and the desire to explore the unknown within a body that is both intelligent and creatively engaged.
Sylvia Rijmer holds a BFA from the Juilliard School and an MA from the Superior School of Dance in Lisbon. After a 22 year professional career in dance as a performer, rehearsal assistant, and maker, she transitioned to cross-domain dance-research since 2018, exploring the intersection of dance, cognitive science, and technology. She deve
Sylvia Rijmer holds a BFA from the Juilliard School and an MA from the Superior School of Dance in Lisbon. After a 22 year professional career in dance as a performer, rehearsal assistant, and maker, she transitioned to cross-domain dance-research since 2018, exploring the intersection of dance, cognitive science, and technology. She developed the Body Logic Method, an improvisational, task-based approach that examines human cognition, inherited habits, and creative decision-making by identifying and challenging habitual movement patterns. By integrating this method with technologies such as VR, 3D motion capture, and generative AI, she investigates new possibilities for physical thinking, movement creation, and visualization. Sylvia is currently a faculty member at the Superior School of Dance in Lisbon, where she teaches undergraduate courses and supervises Master’s students in dance teaching and choreographic creation. She is also a lead-researcher recipient of the IDI&CA2023 funding for her interdisciplinary and multimodal research into the relationship between dance and GenAI.
Cláudia Sevivas holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon. She conducted a postdoctoral research at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, focusing on documenting artistic projects in the area of contemporary dance. In this role, she explored 3D motion capture systems to develop innovat
Cláudia Sevivas holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon. She conducted a postdoctoral research at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, focusing on documenting artistic projects in the area of contemporary dance. In this role, she explored 3D motion capture systems to develop innovative representations and visualizations of movement. Subsequently, Cláudia completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Faculty of Sciences, where she trained and developed deep learning algorithms for emotion recognition in images. Her primary research interest lies in integrating generative artificial intelligence with creative disciplines, uniquely positioning her to lead interdisciplinary projects that bridge technology and the arts. She is currently a professor and the coordinator of the Creative Computing and Artificial Intelligence master’s program at IADE – Creative University.
Vito Evola is a cognitive linguist whose research lies at the intersection of language, culture, and cognition. He specializes in applying multimodal cognitive linguistics to diverse contexts—including patient–doctor interactions, psychotherapy, forensic interviews, and the performing arts—to understand communicators’ epistemic stance i
Vito Evola is a cognitive linguist whose research lies at the intersection of language, culture, and cognition. He specializes in applying multimodal cognitive linguistics to diverse contexts—including patient–doctor interactions, psychotherapy, forensic interviews, and the performing arts—to understand communicators’ epistemic stance in natural settings. During his time at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, he led research in Cognitive Linguistics and Multimodal Communication, focusing on dancers’ social and distributed cognition. He completed his doctoral training at the University of Palermo while conducting research at UC Berkeley and Case Western Reserve University. At RWTH Aachen University, he pursued post-doctoral research on cognitive semiotics, metaphors, gestures, and epistemic stance, and taught Master’s courses in Media Informatics. He also held a FIIRD fellowship at the University of Geneva, where he investigated multimodal cognitive semiotics in religious and spiritual contexts.
Pedro Bruno is currently a faculty member at IADE, Universidade Europeia. He has studied and worked in the field of Photography since 1995, with notable achievements including a Bachelor’s degree in Photography and Visual Culture at IADE, Filmmaking for Cinema and Television at Restart, and the 8-Week Filmmaking course at NYFA - New York Film Academy.
He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Design.
Luís (1985, Lisbon) is a Portuguese artist who expresses himself through dance, painting and writing. He studied dance at the National Conservatory, choreography at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, massage at the Institute of Traditional Medicine and painting and drawing at Ar.Co, where he is currently attending an advanced visual
Luís (1985, Lisbon) is a Portuguese artist who expresses himself through dance, painting and writing. He studied dance at the National Conservatory, choreography at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, massage at the Institute of Traditional Medicine and painting and drawing at Ar.Co, where he is currently attending an advanced visual arts course. He regularly works with other creators as a performer.
Inês holds a master's degree in Dance Teaching from the Escola Superior de Dança and is pursuing a PhD in Dance at the Faculty of Human Motricity. She performed with Quorum Ballet, Companhia Teatromosca, Vortice Dance Company, and in "La Passion de Simone" with the Real Filharmonia de Galicia. She contributed to the "BlackBox Arts & Cogni
Inês holds a master's degree in Dance Teaching from the Escola Superior de Dança and is pursuing a PhD in Dance at the Faculty of Human Motricity. She performed with Quorum Ballet, Companhia Teatromosca, Vortice Dance Company, and in "La Passion de Simone" with the Real Filharmonia de Galicia. She contributed to the "BlackBox Arts & Cognition" research project in collaboration with Sylvia Rijmer and Nova University of Lisbon. As a rehearsal director, she worked with choreographers like Daniel Cardoso, Rui Lopes Graça, and Olga Roriz. Inês has taught at various institutions and served as a judge for competitions such as Dançarte and the Dance World Cup.
As a choreographer, she has created works for prestigious events like the International Ballet Competition Varna, European Grand Prix, and TanzOlymp, earning numerous awards. Her professional credits include collaborations with the Junior Company of the Aveiro Dance School, Companhia de Dança de Almada, and ESD/IDI&CA, among others. She is currently the Founder and Director of the AZA Dance program.
Valter is from Maia, began his dance journey in 2003 with breaking as part of the ZooGang crew. As a B-boy, he participated in various events, battles, and performances, both solo and with the crew. Among his achievements, he won the 7 To Smoke (12 Macacos anniversary), was titled Nº1 B-boy Tuga 2008, and won Can You Smoke the Queen 2016.
Valter is from Maia, began his dance journey in 2003 with breaking as part of the ZooGang crew. As a B-boy, he participated in various events, battles, and performances, both solo and with the crew. Among his achievements, he won the 7 To Smoke (12 Macacos anniversary), was titled Nº1 B-boy Tuga 2008, and won Can You Smoke the Queen 2016. He was also a semi-finalist in the Redbull Cipher 2012 (Portugal). The crew was the national runner-up in 2008 in Porto and secured wins for three years in Portuguese qualifiers for Eurobattle and Let’s Battle in 2014.
In 2013, he graduated as a contemporary dance performer from Balleteatro Escola Profissional. In 2014, he assisted in the choreography for Citânia.Citânia by Né Barros. In 2019, he created the piece Entre(laços) and collaborated with musician Miguel Moreira in The Darkness of the Unknown.
Since 2011, Valter has regularly collaborated with choreographer Victor Hugo Pontes, and appeared in Henrique Pina’s documentary “BODY-BUILDINGS”. Recently, he premiered OCD, A POEM, a co-creation with Hugo Tourita.
Valter has a Master's Degree in Choreographic Creation and Professional Practices (MCCPP) from the Superior School of Dance in Lisbon, Portugal.
Tiago, born in Lisbon, holds a degree in Dance from the Escola Superior de Dança and has pursued further training in Israel, the U.S., and Germany. As a professional dancer, he has collaborated with renowned choreographers such as Damien Jalet, Marco da Silva Ferreira, Sylvia Rijmer, Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz, and Victor Hugo Pontes. His p
Tiago, born in Lisbon, holds a degree in Dance from the Escola Superior de Dança and has pursued further training in Israel, the U.S., and Germany. As a professional dancer, he has collaborated with renowned choreographers such as Damien Jalet, Marco da Silva Ferreira, Sylvia Rijmer, Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz, and Victor Hugo Pontes. His performance career includes projects with the Vortice Dance Company, Orphée by Philip Glass by Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz, and Chiroptera by Damien Jalet at Palais Garnier, a collaboration with artists JR and Thomas Bangalter.
Since 2018, Tiago has also been actively creating and performing contemporary dance works in collaboration with Catarina Casqueiro. Their work Deux Same, commissioned by the Companhia de Dança de Almada, debuted as the closing performance for Quinzena de Dança de Almada. Their most recent creation, Matonari nonai, premiered at SoloDuo Cologne in 2023 and has since been featured internationally in Taiwan, Bulgaria, and Portugal.
Tiago also teaches contemporary dance since 2016 across various Portuguese institutions and workshops abroad. From 2021 to 2023, he was a faculty member at the Escola Superior de Dança. Alongside his work in dance, Tiago has choreographed for advertising and music videos. His awards include 3rd Place and Audience Award at the 2023 Linkage International Choreographic Competition, and the Audience Award at SoloDuo Cologne in 2023.
Marta João, a Portuguese performer from Vila Nova de Famalicão, with a background in dance, classical music and theater. She has worked as a choreographer for ARTIS - Academia de Bailado and Groove Spot - Clube de Danças Urbanas, as well as a director and assistant director at the Casa das Artes de Vila Nova de Famalicão’s theater club, "
Marta João, a Portuguese performer from Vila Nova de Famalicão, with a background in dance, classical music and theater. She has worked as a choreographer for ARTIS - Academia de Bailado and Groove Spot - Clube de Danças Urbanas, as well as a director and assistant director at the Casa das Artes de Vila Nova de Famalicão’s theater club, "Baú dos Segredos." As a dancer, she has performed in productions such as Synergie by Sara Schürmann & Omar Sene Zagala in Dakar (2023), Storyteller - Songs and Stories by Sandy Kilpatrick (2023), and Get Us by Ownpulse Dance Group, showcased at the Quinzena de Dança de Almada (2022). Marta João is also an experienced teacher of contemporary, classical, and creative dance and has taught creative dance in various educational institutions, including Colégio Torre dos Pequeninos and Instituto Nun’Alvres. Her dance training include the Iwanson International School of Contemporary Dance, the Escola Superior de Dança, and is training as a certified Pilates instructor.
Alongside her work in dance, Marta João has experience as an actress in theater productions at Casa das Artes. Marta João is currently completing her Degree in Dance from the Superior School of Dance in Lisbon, Portugal.
Sevivas, C., Rijmer, S., & Evola, V. (2024). Generative AI, Decision-Making, and Collaborative Choreography: How LSTM Networks Mirror Human Creativity. rrreflect – KISD Köln International School of Design Journal of Integrated Design Research.
This interdisciplinary and multimodal research project seeks to reevaluate inherited movement patterns from the dynamic field of Contemporary Dance within the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). By integrating an empirical dance-making method, The Body Logic Method (BL Method), and advanced technologies, the project aims to propose a dance-making process by expanding the possibilities of creative expression in dance beyond the human.
At the heart of this research lies the Body Logic Method (BL Method), an innovative choreographic approach rooted in empirical experience and focused on cognitive engagement. This method prioritizes the dynamic evolution of dancers as integral contributors to the choreographic process.
The BL Method emphasizes real-time dance composition, encouraging dancers to explore their personal "Body Logics"—a term reflecting their unique movement patterns shaped by subjective experiences and inherited embodiments. Through improvisation and focused attention, the method challenges traditional movement generation, fostering idiosyncratic creativity, personal accountability, and self-exploration. By doing so, the BL Method offers a pathway to generate movement ideas that are both deeply individual and critically reflective.
To further challenge normative choreographic practices, this project introduces Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a transformative tool. AI-generated dance models provide a novel lens for human movement, acting as a creative mirror to highlight ingrained patterns and inspire innovative ideas. By blending human based physical intelligence with AI-generated propositions, the research opens new pathways for rethinking embodied movement and choreographic possibilities, proposing an evolving paradigm for a contemporary, Contemporary Dance.
The research project was structured into two main phases:
This research seeks to highlight the transformative potential of interdisciplinary collaboration, merging dance, cognitive science, and AI to shape the future of contemporary dance practices.
Inherited Practice as Research
In Phase I, five professional dancers immersed themselves in The Body Logic Method (BL Method), exploring its principles both physically and conceptually. They then developed short movement sequences inspired by five distinct qualities—Echo, Glitch, Suspend, Freeze, and Repeat—utilizing Scanning's Prime Mover approach from the BL Method. This method allowed the dancers to generate unique movement choices guided by specific cognitive tasks tied to each quality.
Movement data was captured using Kinect V2 and further refined with BlazePose for precise extraction of 33 key points in both 2D and 3D, ensuring detailed and accurate analysis. To fully explore, capture, and innovate within these five movement dynamics, as well as the origins and sequential complexity of the Prime Movers, three dedicated workshops were conducted.
The dance artists features in these Workshops are: Luís Guerra, Inês Pedruco, Valter Fernandes, Tiago Coelho and Marta Guimarães.
What is: The Body Logic Method
The Body Logic Method (BL Method) is an innovative, open-source framework for dance-making that fosters intentional choreographic involvement. It emphasizes movement research grounded in focused attention and active participation, offering dancers a cognitively informed approach to exploring and creating movement.
At its core, the BL Method provides a typology of movement causation, helping dancers understand the origins of movement—why it occurs and how to respond to it. The principle behind the method is that all movement arises from either an internal or an external stimulus (individuated: as a mental idea generated from the self; or social: as generated from one's environment), which either initiates or alters the motion. The methodology is structured as a flexible map, incorporating specific cognitive tasks that can be tailored to meet the individual needs of its users.
For the creation of our Dance Data, we concentrated on five key movement qualities from this map: Echo, Freeze, Repeat, Suspend, and Glitch (see image).
About the Body Logic Method: Rijmer, S. (2022). Negotiating Deliberate Choice-Making: Insights from an interdisciplinary and multimodal encounter during the making of a New Contemporary Dance. In C. Fernandes, V. Evola, & C. Ribeiro (Eds.), Dance Data, Cognition, and Multimodal Communication (pp. 15-37). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003106401-3)
Workshop I: Introducing the Body Logic Method (BL.M) to the dance-artists
This video features excerpts from a two-day workshop where dancers were introduced to the Body Logic Method (BL Method). Working closely with the researchers, they explored the foundational taxonomy and engaged with cognitive-task propositions such as Dodging and Scanning. This process placed the dancers in a state of intentional learning, emphasizing the early stages of acquiring cognitively driven movement patterns.
Workshop II & III: Embodying and creating Dance-Data focusing on 5 Movement Qualities from the BL Method
This video features excerpts from a two-day workshop designed to explore context-specific dance data inspired by the Body Logic Method and its five movement qualities: Echo, Freeze, Repeat, Glitch, and Suspend. The workshop encouraged dancers to engage deeply with each movement quality, heightening their awareness of its unique characteristics.
Each dancer was tasked with creating two variations for each of the five movement qualities—one labeled "Simple" and the other "Complex." In the "Simple" variation, movement was - a. generated from a specific origin or locus in the body (the Prime Mover: see video below "Encountering the Prime Movers")and was uni-directional and orientational, following the dancer's organic Body Logic. In contrast, the "Complex" variation required dancers to deliberately redirect the movement sequence, introducing intentional alterations (multiple directions, trajectories, and dynamics) and thereby reimagining the successional flow of movement.
Five Movement Qualities and the Prime Movers
This video highlights the five movement qualities of the Body Logic Method (BL Method)—Echo, Freeze, Repeat, Glitch, and Suspend—featuring Marta João Guimarães as she generates "Simple" movements initiated from specific Prime Movers within her body, using the Scanning approachfrom the Body Logic Method.
AI as "New" Practice
This research draws on the potential of generative AI, specifically Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, to act as both a mirror and a collaborator for dancers. By leveraging AI’s ability to model and reinterpret movement data, we aim to explore how technology can stimulate dancers to rethink their creative processes. The motivation lies in the opportunity to analyse how AI-generated sequences, trained on structured choreographic methods such as the Body Logic (BL) Method, can retain stylistic individuality while introducing novel variations. These AI-generated movements serve as a source of inspiration, challenging the conventional boundaries of choreographic practice.
The dance artists features in these Workshops are: Luís Guerra, Inês Pedruco, Valter Fernandes, Tiago Coelho and Marta Guimarães.
This is the pipeline for motion analysis and AI-driven generation, beginning with motion capture of dancers' movements, followed by feature extraction and normalization into a 99-dimensional dataset. The processed data is trained using an LSTM-based neural network to predict motion patterns, with outputs smoothed for temporal coherence. The final step visualizes the predicted motion as reconstructed skeletal movements, enabling applications in choreography and motion synthesis.
This image illustrates the architecture of an LSTM-based neural network for motion prediction. It begins with an input layer representing 120-dimensional motion features over time, processed through stacked LSTM layers with 256 units each to capture temporal dependencies. The output from the LSTMs is passed through a dense layer with 256 units, followed by the output layer, which predicts the next motion state or sequence. This structure enables learning and generating dynamic motion patterns effectively.
Workshop IV: Welcoming alternative Body Logics using BL Method and Generative AI
This video demonstrates a more indepth interplay between human creativity and AI by personalising the process. Separate LSTM models were trained for each dancer, using their specific BL motion dynamics (ex. Inês' Echo, Freeze, Suspend, Glitch and Repeat). Each model, Skeleton or Traces, generated new movement sequences reflecting the dancer's unique style and habitual movement patterns. These AI-generated sequences were presented to the corresponding dancer (Workshop IV), followed by a task-based improvisation where the dancer responded to and explored the AI's output. The goal was to understand whether confronting dancers with AI generated "mirrors" of themselves could disrupt habitual decision-making processes and encourage creative exploration. Each exploration of the visualizations lasted 10 minutes, followed immediately by a two-minute improvisation session.
This video presents the AI-generated sequences were presented to the corresponding dancer using two types of visualization: Skeleton and Traces. The Skeleton visualization represents the dancer using a structure of joints and limbs, mimicking their physical form and movement. The Traces visualization, on the other hand, depicts the dancer’s motion as flowing lines in space, derived from the movement of joint positions. Each exploration of the Skeleton or Traces visualizations lasted 10 minutes, followed immediately by a two-minute improvisation session.
This video showcases a two-minute improvisation session following the dancer's exposure to the Skeleton visualization. On the left is the dancer, Inês Pedruco, performing her improvisation, and on the right is the AI-generated movement sequence produced by her personalized AI model.
The goal was to understand whether confronting dancers with AI-generated "mirrors" of themselves could disrupt habitual decision-making processes and encourage creative exploration. PCA analysis of the resulting data revealed distinct clusters for the original, AI-generated, and improvisation sequences, suggesting that the dancers integrated AI inspiration into their improvisations while maintaining their unique movement identities. This approach underscores AI’s capacity to serve as a creative collaborator, expanding the boundaries of choreographic exploration.
The opportunity for both dancers and non-dancers to interact with our AI-generated movements as kinetic models in an immersive environment opened up ongoing creative exploration. Feedback from participants in various events highlighted exciting potential for future research in visualization, movement rehabilitation, and innovative real-time decision-making in dance creation. Below is a sample of the AI models shared in VR.
In this video you can see dancer Ignácio Schiffrin embarking on his first exploration of our AI-generated models in VR. His experience is beautifully articulated in a poem (which he wrote directly after the experience) and brought to life through instinctive movement, guided by his personal Body Logics and inherited dance practices. Filmed at the Pa Dura Festival (2024).
IADE Campus, Lisbon
An academic and interactive presentation of our research on Bodily Futures: Dance and AI for the IADE students and exterior guests (date to ...
IADE Campus, Lisbon
ISR - Meeting Room, Técnico, Univseristy of Lisbon
An academic and interactive presentation of the research Bodily Futures: Dance and AI. Invitation by Dr. Patrícia Figuereido - Associate Pro...
ISR - Meeting Room, Técnico, Univseristy of Lisbon
Penha Sco Arte Cooperativa - Lisboa
Invitation for a Round Table discussion on current practices in dance. A presentation of the research on Bodily Futures: Dance and AI. Invit...
Penha Sco Arte Cooperativa - Lisboa
Lagos, Portugal
An interactive, multimodal dance and technology masterclass of Bodily Futures: Dance and AI.
Participants will explore the Body Logic Method...
Lagos, Portugal
Newnham College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, U.K
An invitation by Dr. Milena Ivanova - Senior Teaching Associate and Course Director in Philosophy at the the Institute of Continuing Educati...
Newnham College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, U.K
Centro de Filosofia das Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa Campo Grande, Building C4, Lisbon, Portugal
An academic and interactive presentation of the research on Bodily Futures: Dance and AI. Invitation by Dr. Anna Ciaunica - Research Associ...
Centro de Filosofia das Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa Campo Grande, Building C4, Lisbon, Portugal
Convento de São Francisco, Coimbra, Portugal
An academic and interactive presentation of the research on Bodily Futures: Dance and AI. Invitation by the department of Technology of the ...
Convento de São Francisco, Coimbra, Portugal
Pavilhão de Conhecimento Lisbon, Portugal
An academic and performative presentation of the research on Bodily Futures: Dance and AI at the LARSYS annual meeting 2024. Invitation by D...
Pavilhão de Conhecimento Lisbon, Portugal
ISEL Campus, Lisbon, Portugal
An informal public presentation of the research Bodily Futures: Dance and AI for the dance students within the Bachelor of Dance program and...
ISEL Campus, Lisbon, Portugal
IDI&CA2023 - Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, IPL
Project Reference:
IPL/IDI&CA2023/Método BL_ESD
Institutional Support: The Superior School of Dance in Lisbon (ESD,
The Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon (IPL) & IADE - Faculty of Design, Technology and Communication of the Creative University in Lisbon
Email:
Sylvia Rijmer - srijmer@esd.ipl.pt
Cláudia Sevivas - claudia.sevivas@universidadeeuropeia.pt
Vito Evola - vito.evola@fcsh.unl.pt
Bodily Futures Website