EMBODIED INTELLIGENCE AND ALGORITHMIC EXPRESSION: RETHINKING DANCE IN THE AGE OF AI
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v7.i1.2026.7603Keywords:
Embodied intelligence, algorithmic expression, human-AI choreography, dance computing, co-creative performanceAbstract [English]
Dance is increasingly becoming an artificial intelligence dependent technical space of generation, correction, improvisation, preservation of culture, co-performance. But most evaluations of AI-dance systems still focus on motion realism, beat correspondence or benchmark precision, but not on as much embodiment, expressive agency or agency sharing between dancer and algorithm. This paper is a unique multiple-case technical research of fifteen published AI-dance systems, published between 2021 and 2026. The study constructs an analytic case corpus and makes comparisons between systems in terms of a common coding matrix, which records technical objective, input modality, output form, interaction mode, locus of control, evaluation regime and four layers of embodied intelligence: kinematic, semantic, relational and cultural, rather than the field being a review problem. The results show that the current systems are very advanced in terms of kinematic intelligence and are increasingly becoming capable of giving semantic guidance with the aid of text, style labels and language-model prompting. Yet, relational reciprocity and cultural grounding is much less common. Co-performance systems that are live have the highest scores of embodied intelligence, with offline generators at the level of motion fidelity. Based on these findings, the article proposes a technical form of expression of algorithms that is designed on the premise of five design specifications: bodily alignment, semantic articulation, reciprocal responsiveness, contextual grounding, and reflexive human control. The article argues that the future of AI-dance studies should not be viewed in terms of its capacity to produce plausible movement but in terms of how it is able to sustain embodied agency, interpretive openness, and culturally situated expression.
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