An official website of the United States government
Wearable electronics expand the ways learners can create with computing as they gain proficiency with programming and electronics. Dance is one domain where wearables can support creative, embodied practices in computing education. However, wearable electronics need to be small, durable, and easily integrated into clothing to meet the constraints of dance contexts. These features are challenging to achieve, especially when working with novices. We present DanceBits, a wearable prototyping kit for dance that was co-developed with a justice-oriented, computing and dance education organization. DanceBits’ plug-and-play system uses small PCBs with solderless connectors to support dancers in rapidly designing, building, and performing with electronic costumes. Our user studies exploring the system with dance instructors and youth participants show that DanceBits enabled fast development of wearables, offered users a breadth of expressivity through computational and choreographic choices, and empowered dancers to see wearables as a tool for developing their movement practices.
more »
« less
Movement Computing Education for Middle Grades
This paper takes a theoretical approach to movement computing education for young learners, with a focus on middle grades (grades 6-8, ages 11-14). This age group is targeted as a lower bound because, while some elements of computational thinking may be available to still younger learners, there are abstractions involved in movement computation that pre-require a certain amount of formal operation, in the Piagetian sense. We outline a parallel foundation of key ideas in movement (specifically dance) and key ideas in computing (specifically data representations) at this age-appropriate level. We describe how these foundations might be laid down together early on so that they can later be integrated via the introduction of sensing and feedback technology. Concepts in movement and choreography are studied using words and bodies, as in traditional dance education, and later using computer simulations and motion capture. Data concepts are introduced first by appeal to general questions and later by specification to the movement of individual and collective joints and bodies.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1933961
- PAR ID:
- 10175190
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Movement and Computing
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 5
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Lissajous figures are parametric equations that deconstruct into equations of simple harmonic motion. They were a source of inspiration by artists and mathematicians alike, well before the digital age, due to their esthetic forms and simple equations that could be easily deconstructed. Here for the first time in literature, we present Lissajous pattern analysis in the context of modern dance movement, thereby expanding the physical understanding of dance and redefining the creative choreographic process. Through the implementation of wearable sensors, specifically wireless accelerometers, we have collected movement data from professional dancers to serve as an additional lens to visualize dance in a novel way and to analyze dance mechanics. The resulting Lissajous figures from the movement phrases were used to both inform and inspire creativity in the choreographic process of the Artistic Director of the Bowen McCauley Dance Company to create a new piece of work entitled Lissajous.more » « less
-
How do we make a machine that indicates changes to its internal state, e.g., status, goals, attitude, or even emotion, through changes in movement profiles? This workshop will pose a possible direction toward such ends that leverages movement notation as a source for clearly defining abstract concepts of similarity and symbolic representation of the parts and patterns of movement - in order to identify, record and interpret patterns of human movement on both the micro and macro levels. First, we will move together. This will activate an innate ability to imitate each other and, in doing so, illuminate the principal components of Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies – a field comprised of Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals – and the Body, Effort, Shape, Space, and Time (BESST) System of movement analysis. This system of work, deriving from dance and physical therapy practices, which is a textbook; thus, a key value proposition of the workshop is in its embodied, situated nature that can be supplemented by textbooks, including a newly released book from MIT Press authored by the workshop organizers. Next, we will try to write down what we’re doing. A set of symbols for describing elements of the BESST System, which seem to be particularly perceptually meaningful to human observers, will be presented so that movement ideas can be notated and, thus, translated between bodies. We will explore both Labanotation and a related “motif”-style notation. This workshop is supported by NSF grant numbers 2234195 and 2234197.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Dance provides unique opportunities for embodied interdisciplinary learning experiences that can be personally and culturally relevant. danceON is a system that supports learners to leverage their body movement as they engage in artistic practices across data science, computing, and dance. The technology includes a Domain Specific Language (DSL) with declarative syntax and reactive behavior, a media player with pose detection and classification, and a web-based IDE. danceON provides a low-floor allowing users to bind virtual shapes to body positions in under three lines of code, while also enabling complex, dynamic animations that users can design working with conditionals and past position data. We developed danceON to support distance learning and deployed it in two consecutive cohorts of a remote, two-week summer camp for young women of color. We present our findings from an analysis of the experience and the resulting computational performances. The work identifies implications for how design can support learners’ expression across culturally relevant themes and examines challenges from the lens of usability of the computing language and technology.more » « less
-
Performing arts computing environments have received little attention in the educational sphere; yet, they offer opportunities for learners to validate their efforts, ideas, and skills through showcasing their work in a public-facing performance. In this work, we explore an out-of-school dance and computing educational program run by the organization, STEM From Dance. The organizational mission is to create an equitable learning experience for young women of color to engage with computing while exposing them to STEM careers. Through an analysis of eleven interviews with youth participants, instructors, and the executive director, we examine how the social, cultural, and political dimensions of the learning environment facilitate identity work in computing and dance. Our findings point to three primary activities used by the organization to promote equity: (1) providing psychological safety through a supportive community environment, (2) meaningfully engaging with learners’ social and cultural context through creative work with constructionist artifacts, and (3) actively promoting identity work as women of color in computing and STEM through both artifact work and community events. Applying the constructs of identity and psychological safety we explore the tensions and synergies of designing for equity in this performing arts and computing learning environment. We demonstrate how the seemingly contradictory elements of a high-stakes performance within a novice learning environment provides unique opportunities for supporting young women of color in computing, making them non-negotiable in the organization’s efforts to promote equity and inclusion. Our work illustrates how attending closely to the sociocultural dimensions in a constructionist learning environment provides lenses for navigating equity, identity work, and support for inclusive computing.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3401956.3404238
