Embodied Sharing in Operatic Performance (ESOP)

The ESOP research project aims to investigate how embodied cognition manifests in opera performance and how audiences perceive the performative event physiologically and emotionally.

The project asks:

(1) To what extent and through what means do direction–scenographic concepts influence embodied sharing between performers and spectators?

(2) How and under what conditions might these concepts enable some spectators – after witnessing a tragic opera or an operatic crisis – to bodily and emotionally process what they have seen, experience emotional relief, or even “feel better”?

The ESOP-01 project (Embodied Sharing in Opera Performance) constitutes the preparatory phase of a larger international research program. This pilot study establishes the methodological and empirical foundations for a future research project focused on the mechanisms of embodied simulation (e.g., Gallese, 2025) and their role in aesthetic experience.

An excerpt from an operatic performance has been selected as the research material because opera represents one of the most complex forms of artistic communication, integrating musical, dramatic, corporeal, and scenographic modalities. The chosen lamentation scene exemplifies a highly performative and emotionally charged situation, often serving as a critical moment in the dramatic narrative or as a response to it. As such, it provides an especially suitable context for examining the physiological and affective responses of audience members.

Within the pilot study, conducted by the Department of Theatre Studies in collaboration with the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport at Masaryk University (Prof. Julie Vašků), the Department of Musicology (Assoc. Prof. Martin Flašar), C E I T E C (Dr. Martin Kojan), the HUME Lab (Dr. Eva Kundtová Klocová), and the Ensemble Opera Diversa, the physiological responses of a selected group of audience members will be monitored

during a live opera performance. These measures will include indicators such as heart rate, galvanic skin response, and respiratory activity. The collected data will be subjected to mathematical analysis and supplemented by a questionnaire survey focused on the audience’s subjective experience of the performance.

@ David Konečný

Project: Eye-tracking Alcina, Mgr. Silvie Hajdíková, Bc. Eliška Halodová,

NDB: Václav Luks - Conductor, Jiří Heřman - Director, Dragan Stojčevski - Set Design, Alexandra Grusková - Costume Design, Daniel Tesař - Light Design, Pavla Vykopalová - Alcina 

As part of the project’s ongoing activities, a pilot data collection was conducted at the National Theatre Brno following a performance of Káťa Kabanová. (Part of Bc. Eliška Halodová's master's thesis)

This semester (Winter 2026), a specialized course titled Field Research in Theatre Studies. It aims to engage students in the practical implementation of research projects and further develop their methodological competencies in research.