Performer/audience experience, performer perception and audience immersion

Abstract

This article considers dance performances that utilize immersive technologies, in particular those that result in comparatively different experiences for the performer and the audience. The article proposes that with the incorporation of technology, creators and audiences may become so engrossed by the effects of technology and what can be achieved that we perhaps overlook what is omitted when technology takes centre stage. By analysing three aspects of technology-mediated dance performances, this article highlights how technology alters and extrapolates the dance experience for performers and audiences. The differing experiences of performer and audience, the dancer’s perception of their environment and the audience’s immersion are in some ways enhanced, but also arguably hindered, by the mediation of technology. The article aims to provoke questions about technology-mediated performances and proposes more theoretical discussions on the communication of dance through technology.