Designing for Ballet Classes

Abstract

Dancer-teacher communication in a ballet class can be challenging: ballet is one of the most complex forms of movements, and learning happens through multi-faceted interactions with studio tools (mirror, barre, and floor) and the teacher. We conducted an interview-based qualitative study with seven ballet teachers and six dancers followed by an open-coded analysis to explore the communication challenges that arise while teaching and learning in the ballet studio. We identified key communication issues, including adapting to multi-level dancer expertise, transmitting and realigning development goals, providing personalized corrections and feedback, maintaining the state of flow, and communicating how to properly use tools in the environment. We discuss design implications for crafting technological interventions aimed at mitigating these communication challenges.

Stage, Studio and Screen: Reimagining Dance Online

“…However, with the imminent ubiquity of VR systems [5ś11] that incorporate full body participation, exploring these discrepancies offers novel avenues of investigation for HCI researchers. For example, enhancing learning in online environments could include interfaces that facilitate full body demonstrations of movement, facial expression, and even allow for physical corrections to posture and movement using sensors [41]. We argue that more empirical research be conducted that examines the challenges and opportunities of video-mediated support for embodied interaction in dance that could be generalized to different use case contexts (e.g.…”