Contemporary dance

Dance

Negotiation

Performance art

Social psychology

Interaction design

Computer graphics (images)

Set (abstract data type)

Openness to experience

Computer science

Visual arts

Psychology

Sociology

Programming language

Interactive art

Human–computer interaction

Art history

Social science

Multimedia

I describe the research and creation journey of a choreographic dance piece called SKIN that I made with another choreographer, 3 dancers, 1 musician and 1 developer. The performance integrates interactive technologies mapping inner movement to sound and video on stage. We followed a research though practice method that includes iterative cycles of choreographic practice and interaction design. This generated a set of research questions that I address through experience explicitation interviews of both audience and creative team members. The interviews allow me to investigate the lived experience of making and attending the performance and the emergent relationships between dance, media and interaction as well as the tensions and negotiations that emerged from integrating technology in art. I discuss my approach as anti-solutionist and argue for more openness in HCI to allow artists to contribute to knowledge by embracing the messiness of their practice.

Making an Interactive Dance Piece