Publications List

Digital Intervention into Dramaturgical Thoughts:The Dramaturgy of Remote Dance Improvisation

Serdar, Bilge. 2024a. ‘Digital Intervention into Dramaturgical Thoughts:The Dramaturgy of Remote Dance Improvisation’. Paper presented at CARPA8 Solvitur Ambulando “solved by moving” Dramaturgies of Artistic Research, Helsinki. Proceedings of CARPA8. https://nivel.teak.fi/carpa8/digital-intervention-into-dramaturgical-thoughts-the-dramaturgy-of-remote-dance-improvisation/

Abstract:

In the summer of 2021, after the initial COVID-19 crisis, I conducted ethnographic research in a physical training institution that offered Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies. The training involved creating and improvising movement sequences, which was a crucial aspect of the program. Due to the coronavirus precautions, eight dancers’ training was conducted in a hybrid format via Zoom. Some dancers attended remotely, while others were present in the studio. In the hybrid setting, limited access to the studio environment and remote intercorporeality resulted in different perceptual fields and coordination dynamics, which impacted the dancers’ creative choices. In my presentation, I will discuss the emerging issues that arose when the dancers improvised as “studio-studio”, “online-studio”, and “online-online” partners. Using an enactive perspective as a theoretical background, I aim to reflect on the outcomes of my fieldwork in the current dramaturgical discussions.

The Clash between Physical and Digital Realm: Hybrid Movement Training during the Pandemic’

Serdar, Bilge. 2024b. ‘The Clash between Physical and Digital Realm: Hybrid Movement Training during the Pandemic’. Discover Education V3 (64). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-024-00158-y

Abstract:

This article is based on ethnographic research conducted in one of the physical training institutions that offer the Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies (LBMS) certification program in 2021. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the training was held in a hybrid format in which some participants were in the studio while others were attending remotely via Zoom. Zoom-mediated movement training for long hours revealed how the intervention of telematic technologies challenged practitioners’ sensorial experience and sense-making process. Moreover, bringing co-located and remote participants’ experiences together in the hybrid setting disclosed different modes of interaction dynamics in the studio and online. Overall, participants described their hybrid experience as a clash. In the article, starting from unfolding those clashes from the enactive perspective, I discuss how remote intercorporeality through an audio–video streaming system, Zoom, challenges participants’ sensorial experience and how remote interaction affects the shared sense-making process in the hybrid format setting.

The Implications of Immersive Technology in Theatre for Young Audiences: Challenges and Opportunities (Book Chapter)

Serdar, Bilge. 2025, In Press. The Implications of Immersive Technology in Theatre for Young Audiences: Challenges and Opportunities, ASSITEJ PRESS

Abstract

Today’s immersive technology creates a real-like ambience, offering a unique interactive and multimodal experience onstage. These implications might look promising for new aesthetic forms. However, using them on the stage in this technology-driven world raises some concerns about their potential long-term impact on young people’s development. In this paper, I will critically evaluate the use of immersive technology in TYA, questioning whether performing arts can offer a new form of aesthetic experience.

The Aesthetics of Technology in Early Childhood: Developmental Concerns and Artistic Considerations (Book Chapter)

Serdar, Bilge. In Publication Process, The Aesthetics of Technology in Early Childhood: Developmental Concerns and Artistic Considerations, Springer.

Dance in Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA)

Serdar, Bilge. 2014. Las Posibilidades de La Danza Como Una Experiencia Éstética En El Teatro Para Niños y Jóvenes. Vol. 11. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.33940.92808.

Serdar, Bilge. 2015. ‘Dansın Çocuk ve Gençlerle Kurduğu İletişimin Niteliği: Estetik Mesafe, Özdeşleşme ve Estetik Deneyim’. Yaratıcı Drama Dergisi 10 (1): 1. https://doi.org/10.21612/yader.2015.006.

These two articles explores how dance functions as an aesthetic and symbolic mode of expression in performances for young audiences. Drawing on concepts such as kinaesthetic empathy, aesthetic distance, and intercorporeal communication, it argues that dance engages children through embodied modes of perception that move beyond narrative or didactic strategies. Rather than illustrating stories, dance becomes an autonomous poetic form—capable of triggering affective, sensory, and cognitive responses.

Exploring The Difference Between Remote and Co-Located Dance Improvisation Through Multi-Modal Data Collection

Serdar B., Upham F., Burnim K., Von Arnim H. A., Jensenius A. R., In Press, Exploring The Difference Between Remote and Co-Located Dance Improvisation Through Multi-Modal Data Collection, Sound, Movement, and the Sciences (SoMoS) 2024 Proceedings

SOMA: A New Body Phenomenon – Somatic Practices in Theatre Directing and Director Training

Serdar, Bilge. 2018. ‘BOOK OF PROCEEDINGS 2018 Tendencies in Contemporary Theatre Directing and Theatre-Directing Education’. “‘Soma’ – A New Body Phenomenon: Somatic Practices in Theatre Directing and Director Training” (Brno). https://www.theatreconferencejamu.cz/en/book-proceeding/tendencies-in-contemporary-theatre-directing-and-theatre-directing-education-fragments-from-a-symposium/lecture/soma-a-new-body-phenomenon-somatic-practices-in-theatre-directing-and-director-training

This article explores the role of somatic practices in contemporary theatre directing and director education, reflecting on my personal experience at The Commedia School in Copenhagen and Ole Brekke’s embodied pedagogical approach. In light of cognitive science’s shift away from Cartesian dualism, the paper argues that meaning and creativity emerge through fully embodied processes. Drawing on somatic methods such as Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, and Laban/Bartenieff Fundamentals, the discussion highlights how somatic awareness fosters creative agency, sensory perception, and relational presence in rehearsal and performance. By integrating theory with practice, the article shows how somatics can reshape the director’s role and deepen their connection with performers and audience alike.

Reflections of Embodiment and Enactive Theories in Contemporary Theatre Practices: A Somatic Approach in Actor Training

Original title: Bedenleşme ve Enaksiyon Teorilerinin Çağdaş Tiyatro Uygulamalarına Yansımaları: Oyunculuk Eğitiminde Somatik Yaklaşım

Bilge, Serdar Göksülük. 2021. ‘Bedenleşme ve Enaksiyon Teorilerinin Çağdaş Tiyatro Uygulamalarına Yansımaları: Oyunculuk Eğitiminde Somatik Yaklaşım’. Tiyatro Eleştirmenliği ve Dramaturji Bölümü Dergisi 0 (32): 32. https://doi.org/10.26650/jtcd.908412

Abstract:

This study explores how embodiment and enactive theories from cognitive science inform contemporary actor training by emphasizing the body’s central role in meaning-making. These frameworks reject mind-body dualism, instead proposing that cognition emerges through dynamic, situated interaction between body and environment. Enactive theory further highlights how perception and action are intertwined, framing movement as a constitutive element of consciousness. Within this context, somatic approaches—such as those based on phenomenological self-reflection and sensory awareness—offer actors tools to refine perception, develop empathy, and personalize technique. These practices cultivate embodied presence by enhancing kinesthetic, proprioceptive, and interoceptive awareness. By engaging with movement intentionally, actors uncover links between function and expression, allowing them to explore how shifting intentions reshape bodily form and meaning. Somatic work not only fosters performative awareness—a heightened state of embodied attention—but also grounds actor training in first-person experience. This study advocates somatic methods as essential to cultivating deeply embodied, responsive, and adaptable performers.

From Ritualistic Dance to Political Act: Embodying Oppositions Through Dancing Halay in Mass Demonstrations of Turkey (Book Chapter)

Serdar, Bilge.In Press, From Ritualistic Dance to Political Act: Embodying Oppositions Through Dancing Halay in Mass Demonstrations of Turkey, Palgrave.

The Pedagogical Shift in Embodied Learning: Hybrid Format Laban/Bartenieff Movement Training During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Book Chapter)

Serdar, Bilge. in Publication Process, The Pedagogical Shift in Embodied Learning: Hybrid Format Laban/Bartenieff Movement Training During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Book Chapter), DeGruyter.

Where is That Bird? The Impact of Artificial Birdsong in Public Indoor Environments

Riaz, Maham; Guo, Jinyue; Serdar Göksülük, Bilge; Jensenius, Alexander Refsum., 2025, Where is That Bird? The Impact of Artificial Birdsong in Public Indoor Environments, Book AM '25: Proceedings of the 20th International Audio Mostly Conference ISBN: 979-8-4007-0818-3 2025, ACM Digital Library. UIO