There is a growing interest in interactive visuals for dance performance. Recent research has identified potential in using interactive visuals to convey to the audience otherwise non-visible elements of performances. Informed by soma design, and with a co-design perspective, we aim to make apparent non-visible bodily aspects of dancers. We propose to design interactive visuals from body maps, following two approaches – Machine Learning and Composite Animation. We conducted a multi-stage study involving 12 dancers. We present and discuss the results of our evaluations, confirming that both prototypes were successful in addressing our aim, with some limitations. We discuss our two approaches, different uses and actors in different stages, tensions between research and dance creation, and potential applications. Our main contributions are the two approaches for designing interactive visuals from body maps and their analysis. These are materialized in two software systems released as open-source and in their design framework descriptions.

This paper presents and discusses the introduction of 3D functionalities for an existing web-based multimodal video annotation tool. Over the past years, we have developed a multimodal web video annotation tool that now combines 3D models and 360º content with more traditional annotation types (e.g., text, drawings, images), offering users the possibility of adding extra information in their annotation work. We show how 3D models augment the annotation work and add advantages like viewing or exploring objects in detail and from different angles. The paper reports detailed feedback from a pilot study in form of a workshop with traditional dance experts to whom these new features were presented. We conclude with an outlook of future iterations of the video annotator based on the experts’ feedback.

This paper argues that a significant paradigm change in contemporary dance can offer further opportunities for HCI researchers interested in embodied interaction and interactive system design. Based on the analysis of 42 HCI papers in our data set, resulting from searches in two computing research libraries, we suggest seven thematic categories that reflect how HCI researchers have been engaging with contemporary dance. Moreover, we propose a standardized usage of contemporary dance terminology in HCI literature, and discuss the current state of engagement with publications from the field of performance theory. We identify three opportunities for HCI, which can arise through further engagement with the knowledge produced in contemporary dance and performance: to engage with the field of embodied interaction from the perspective of performance research and theory; to employ contemporary dance methods and practices in HCI research; and to integrate contemporary dance choreographers and performers as researchers in interdisciplinary projects.