Centering Bodies in Space and Place through Virtual Reality Dance Performance: A Practice-Based Research Perspective

Our most cutting-edge virtual reality remains focused on visual perception over embodiment. This article presents a dance performance project that stems from a foundation in somatics, creative dance, and HCI to embrace the challenge of centering bodies and embodiment within virtual reality. Our team of choreographers, dancers, and technologists recount the two-year development of the 360 video through ideation, movement tracking workshops, prototyping, process share-outs, to a final performance, to reflect on how our goal to centre bodies guided our artistic and technology choices throughout the entire process of making. Space became a key theme as we refined the choreography and design to use the full potentialities of the immersive environment. Place became a key theme as we prioritised configurations that enabled the performance to be showcased in the Pacific, Eastern Europe and Latin America. We discuss challenges and opportunities for supporting embodiment in virtual reality dance performance.