"It's Like Being On Stage": Conveying Dancers' Expressiveness Through A Haptic-Installed Contemporary Dance Performance

Ximing Shen; Xuan Li; Youichi Kamiyama; Danny Hynds; Giulia Barbareschi; RAY LC; Sohei Wakisaka; Arata Horie; Kouta Minamizawa

doi:10.1145/3706598.3713321

"It's Like Being On Stage": Conveying Dancers' Expressiveness Through A Haptic-Installed Contemporary Dance Performance

Ximing Shen, Xuan Li, Youichi Kamiyama, Danny Hynds, Giulia Barbareschi, RAY LC, Sohei Wakisaka, Arata Horie, Kouta Minamizawa

School of Creative Media

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In dance performances, choreography, music and lighting are combined to convey meaning to the audience. However, this communication typically relies on visual and auditory stimuli alone. While haptic technologies have been leveraged to enhance the perception of dancers' movements, less focus has been placed on exploring their potential in enhancing dancers' somatic expressiveness. Through co-design activities with 5 professional contemporary dancers, we crafted an interdisciplinary combination of choreography and haptics. In total, 128 audience members watched one of three live performances while wearing custom-made haptic wristbands. From an open-ended questionnaire and interviews with audience members, we explore how the introduction of haptics deepens their embodied sensations and helps to create a sense of resonance with the dancers. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for future directions in how haptic technologies could drive innovation in dance performances from the point of view of both dancers' creativity and audience experiences. © 2025 held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI’25
Subtitle of host publication	Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Editors	Naomi Yamashita, Vanessa Evers, Koji Yatani, Xianghua (Sharon) Ding, Bongshin Lee, Marshini Chetty, Phoebe Toups-Dugas
Place of Publication	New York, NY
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Print)	9798400713941
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713321
Publication status	Published - Apr 2025
Event	2025 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025): IkiCHI - PACIFICO Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan Duration: 26 Apr 2025 → 1 May 2025 https://chi2025.acm.org/

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference	2025 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025)
Abbreviated title	CHI'25
Place	Japan
City	Yokohama
Period	26/04/25 → 1/05/25
Internet address	https://chi2025.acm.org/

Funding

We thank Session House and all the artists participating in the Boiling Mind 3.0 performance. This work was supported by JST Moonshot R&D Program \"Cybernetic being\" Project (Grant number JPMJMS2013) and JST SPRING (Grant Number JPMJSP2123). Any opinions, fndings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily refect the views of any funding agencies.

Research Keywords

contemporary dance
embodied interaction
haptic feedback
improvisation

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10.1145/3706598.3713321

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Shen, X., Li, X., Kamiyama, Y., Hynds, D., Barbareschi, G., LC, RAY., Wakisaka, S., Horie, A., & Minamizawa, K. (2025). "It's Like Being On Stage": Conveying Dancers' Expressiveness Through A Haptic-Installed Contemporary Dance Performance. In N. Yamashita, V. Evers, K. Yatani, X. Ding, B. Lee, M. Chetty, & P. Toups-Dugas (Eds.), CHI’25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Article 657 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713321

Shen, Ximing ; Li, Xuan ; Kamiyama, Youichi et al. / "It's Like Being On Stage" : Conveying Dancers' Expressiveness Through A Haptic-Installed Contemporary Dance Performance. CHI’25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. editor / Naomi Yamashita ; Vanessa Evers ; Koji Yatani ; Xianghua (Sharon) Ding ; Bongshin Lee ; Marshini Chetty ; Phoebe Toups-Dugas. New York, NY : Association for Computing Machinery, 2025. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

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abstract = "In dance performances, choreography, music and lighting are combined to convey meaning to the audience. However, this communication typically relies on visual and auditory stimuli alone. While haptic technologies have been leveraged to enhance the perception of dancers' movements, less focus has been placed on exploring their potential in enhancing dancers' somatic expressiveness. Through co-design activities with 5 professional contemporary dancers, we crafted an interdisciplinary combination of choreography and haptics. In total, 128 audience members watched one of three live performances while wearing custom-made haptic wristbands. From an open-ended questionnaire and interviews with audience members, we explore how the introduction of haptics deepens their embodied sensations and helps to create a sense of resonance with the dancers. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for future directions in how haptic technologies could drive innovation in dance performances from the point of view of both dancers' creativity and audience experiences. {\textcopyright} 2025 held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM.",

keywords = "contemporary dance, embodied interaction, haptic feedback, improvisation",

author = "Ximing Shen and Xuan Li and Youichi Kamiyama and Danny Hynds and Giulia Barbareschi and RAY LC and Sohei Wakisaka and Arata Horie and Kouta Minamizawa",

year = "2025",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1145/3706598.3713321",

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isbn = "9798400713941",

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publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

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booktitle = "CHI{\textquoteright}25",

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note = "2025 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025) : IkiCHI, CHI'25 ; Conference date: 26-04-2025 Through 01-05-2025",

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Shen, X, Li, X, Kamiyama, Y, Hynds, D, Barbareschi, G, LC, RAY, Wakisaka, S, Horie, A & Minamizawa, K 2025, "It's Like Being On Stage": Conveying Dancers' Expressiveness Through A Haptic-Installed Contemporary Dance Performance. in N Yamashita, V Evers, K Yatani, X Ding, B Lee, M Chetty & P Toups-Dugas (eds), CHI’25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 657, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, 2025 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025), Yokohama, Japan, 26/04/25. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713321

"It's Like Being On Stage": Conveying Dancers' Expressiveness Through A Haptic-Installed Contemporary Dance Performance. / Shen, Ximing; Li, Xuan; Kamiyama, Youichi et al.
CHI’25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ed. / Naomi Yamashita; Vanessa Evers; Koji Yatani; Xianghua (Sharon) Ding; Bongshin Lee; Marshini Chetty; Phoebe Toups-Dugas. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery, 2025. 657 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

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T2 - 2025 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025)

AU - Shen, Ximing

AU - Li, Xuan

AU - Kamiyama, Youichi

AU - Hynds, Danny

AU - Barbareschi, Giulia

AU - LC, RAY

AU - Wakisaka, Sohei

AU - Horie, Arata

AU - Minamizawa, Kouta

PY - 2025/4

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N2 - In dance performances, choreography, music and lighting are combined to convey meaning to the audience. However, this communication typically relies on visual and auditory stimuli alone. While haptic technologies have been leveraged to enhance the perception of dancers' movements, less focus has been placed on exploring their potential in enhancing dancers' somatic expressiveness. Through co-design activities with 5 professional contemporary dancers, we crafted an interdisciplinary combination of choreography and haptics. In total, 128 audience members watched one of three live performances while wearing custom-made haptic wristbands. From an open-ended questionnaire and interviews with audience members, we explore how the introduction of haptics deepens their embodied sensations and helps to create a sense of resonance with the dancers. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for future directions in how haptic technologies could drive innovation in dance performances from the point of view of both dancers' creativity and audience experiences. © 2025 held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM.

AB - In dance performances, choreography, music and lighting are combined to convey meaning to the audience. However, this communication typically relies on visual and auditory stimuli alone. While haptic technologies have been leveraged to enhance the perception of dancers' movements, less focus has been placed on exploring their potential in enhancing dancers' somatic expressiveness. Through co-design activities with 5 professional contemporary dancers, we crafted an interdisciplinary combination of choreography and haptics. In total, 128 audience members watched one of three live performances while wearing custom-made haptic wristbands. From an open-ended questionnaire and interviews with audience members, we explore how the introduction of haptics deepens their embodied sensations and helps to create a sense of resonance with the dancers. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for future directions in how haptic technologies could drive innovation in dance performances from the point of view of both dancers' creativity and audience experiences. © 2025 held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM.

KW - contemporary dance

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U2 - 10.1145/3706598.3713321

DO - 10.1145/3706598.3713321

M3 - RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication)

SN - 9798400713941

T3 - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

BT - CHI’25

A2 - Yamashita, Naomi

A2 - Evers, Vanessa

A2 - Yatani, Koji

A2 - Ding, Xianghua (Sharon)

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A2 - Chetty, Marshini

A2 - Toups-Dugas, Phoebe

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

CY - New York, NY

Y2 - 26 April 2025 through 1 May 2025

ER -

Shen X, Li X, Kamiyama Y, Hynds D, Barbareschi G, LC RAY et al. "It's Like Being On Stage": Conveying Dancers' Expressiveness Through A Haptic-Installed Contemporary Dance Performance. In Yamashita N, Evers V, Yatani K, Ding X, Lee B, Chetty M, Toups-Dugas P, editors, CHI’25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. 2025. 657. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). Epub 2025 Apr 25. doi: 10.1145/3706598.3713321

"It's Like Being On Stage": Conveying Dancers' Expressiveness Through A Haptic-Installed Contemporary Dance Performance

Abstract

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