Kinematic motion characteristics and observer’s expertise in perceived aesthetics of dance jumps

Abstract

Specific aesthetic features of the object and observer’s expertise seem to be related to the perception of motion aesthetics. How differing kinematic motion characteristics and their manifestation are related to the perception of motion aesthetics and how this relates to the observer’s expertise is still investigated. It is hypothesized that different manifestations of the kinematic motion characteristics amplitude, fluency, and complexity are related to perceived motion aesthetics of dance skills and observer’s expertise. Dancers’ and non-dancers’ perception of motion aesthetics was assessed when watching stick-figure video sequences of semi-standardized dance jumps, classified relating to three kinematic motion characteristics and their semantic differentials. Large, fluent, and complex dance jumps were perceived as more aesthetic than small, jerky, and simple jumps. There was no general effect on the observer’s expertise. Nevertheless, non-dancers gave higher aesthetic ratings for complex dance jumps than dancers. Findings indicate that expertise does not relate to the perception of motion aesthetics per se. In contrast, specific kinematic motion characteristics of dance jumps do. Amplitude and fluency seem to be remarkable objective aesthetic qualities when perceiving motion aesthetics of dance skills. The observed dance skills’ complexity appears to be a critical parameter when addressing observers with different expertise.