Restriction and Freedom in Choreographic Space: A Cross-Cultural Exploration of the Nine-Grid Structure, Digital Embodiment, and Zen Aesthetics / Songwen Liu (2025)

This study investigates the tension between restriction and freedom in contemporary choreographic practice through the creation of an stage production. The research is mainly framed within Practice-as-Research (PaR), positioning the artistic process as both the method and the outcome of inquiry. Inspired by the traditional Chinese “Nine-Grid” structure, the choreography explores how spatial boundaries and digital projection can generate new modes of movement and perception. The use of a large grid drawn on the stage, combined with a screen projection of digital grids, created a layered environment in which dancers negotiated visible and invisible limits. These restrictions served a dual purpose as choreographic tools and symbolic metaphors for life within digital media, a realm in which the subjective agency of both the choreographer and the performers is dissolved by overarching algorithmic systems and social media pressures. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining phenomenology, auto-ethnography, and action research. Through participant observation and rehearsal notes, capture the dynamic process of dancers engaging in physical dialogue with the given constraints of the choreographic system. Semi-structured interviews with dancers provide insights into their sensory and emotional experiences of confinement and release arising from the specific rules, tasks, and physical interventions that constitute the choreographic design. Video-based movement analysis traces the relationship between physical trajectories, rhythm, and the projected virtual structures. Together, these methods construct a triangulated understanding of how restriction operates as both a productive force in choreography. The primary contributions of this research manifest in two respects. Firstly, it re-frames choreographic constrains as structural conditions for creativity rather than shackles. In this context, ‘constraints’ refer to the deliberate imposition of rules, limitations, and problems within the choreographic process. This perspective alignswith Western postmodern strategies while resonating with Eastern philosophical concepts of discipline and transformation. Secondly, by revealing how virtual grids and gauze projections influence bodily perception and audience experience, this study expands the creative forms of media technology and performance. Ultimately, adopting a cross-cultural perspective, this research transforms constraints into tools for dialogue between dancers and their bodies. Though rehearsal organization and choreographic structure, the work physically manifests themes highly relevant to contemporary life: the blurring of personal identity due to the influence of digital personas, the sense of worry and unease caused by constant digital monitoring and social pressure, and the artistic exploration of meaning and self in a technology-driven world.