Making an Interactive Dance Piece: Tensions in Integrating Technology in Art

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.