Stage, Studio and Screen: Reimagining Dance Online

Abstract

Dance is a field of study expressed through a series of improvised or choreographed movements and steps that involve arms, legs, and torsos extending across physical space. When these activities shift online, the challenges for performance and teaching are more novel than those found in verbal or text-based communication. This paper discusses preliminary results from a qualitative study conducted to understand how performers and students adapted to online spaces when in-person events were not available. We examine how performers reconstructed the stage and overcame obstacles to building rapport with audiences. We also investigate how students assembled makeshift dance studios in the home and challenges they faced when trying to make sense of choreographed instructions. Preliminary analysis shows that existing technologies lack support for performing and learning dance online, and we conclude with suggestions for how more sophisticated systems might be designed to support embodied knowledge production and transfer.