Dance evaluation system based on motion analysis

We are conducting research on computer-aided edutainment with a view to creating learning environments where anybody can acquire advanced skills. In this paper, we focus on dance actions as a part of edutainment research and propose a method to evaluate dance skills through motion analysis. Our method consists of wavelet multi-resolution analysis and correlation analysis. Firstly, by using wavelet multi-resolution analysis, we decompose complex dance motion data acquired from a motion-capture system into different frequency components. And by applying correlation analysis to the decomposed data, we extract motion features that play a dominant role in evaluating sense of rhythm and harmony of movement of each body part. By comparing the extracted features of amateurs to those of experts, we have achieved a quantitative evaluation method for dance skills. Through experiments, we confirmed that there is a strong correlation amongst extracted motion features and subjective evaluation results of dance skills. Using the proposed method, we have developed a computer-aided edutainment system for dance. By mapping motion-captured dance data and its evaluation results onto the 3-D CG figure, our system enables users to visually know bad points of their dance and acquire more advanced dance skills.