Touch, agency and the interplay between dance, disability and robotics

The themes of touch, contact and consent in relation to disability generate a lot of discussion and are brought further into view in the context of performance, and specifically dance performance. Disabled dance artists develop expertise that is particular to their own body, and if they dance with an assistive technology, such as a prosthesis, crutch or wheelchair, the dancer has additional expertise in how their corporeal body interfaces with non-human agents. If the non-human agent is a robot, questions around touch and consent may take on a different force. This article discusses a recent project that brought together an interdisciplinary team to ask questions about how expert disabled dancers encounter robots, and how bodily contact with robots can be generative and reimagine contact as creative, expressive and trustworthy, rather than potentially harmful. The discussion also asks whether AI offers an opportunity to develop more inclusive research methodologies, or whether it calls into sharp focus the inequalities if lived experience of difference and diversity is overlooked.