Using digital touch in the process of improvising and the implications for kinaesthesia

Abstract

The Digital Touch Project took place between 2019 and 2020 and is part of wider research considering wearable technology in dance-making. In questioning the use of body-worn digital tools/aids in the dance-making process, the project aimed to discover more about how technology-assisted creativity operates and its influence. Six experienced dancers/choreographers utilized the prototypes in their choreographic practices. The workshops enabled data collection via a mixed-method approach of semi-structured interviews, embodied participation (researcher as a participant), fieldnotes and movement analysis from video footage. The coded data and thematic analysis have been collated with the transcribed movement and provide evidence towards two different forms of digital touch and its promotion of heightened attentional focus, greater fluidity of interoceptive and exteroceptive abilities within improvisation and varied working relationships with the prototypes.