Haptics and Motion Capture to make Dance more Accessible for the Blind

The idea was first developed with the support of East London Dance and the London College of Fashion on the Creative Lab 2021, a week of collaboration and experimentation between choreographers, designers and technologists. During this time, I sought to explore how haptic and motion capture technology might be utilised to make the act of experiencing dance more accessible for blind and visually impaired audiences. From this, we developed our first prototype and a proof of concept.

Footage of our progress can be found here.

Subsequently, I was invited to present my research at the 8th International Conference on Movement and Computing in Chicago. Alongside my research partners Gabija and Minke, we discussed the paper, prototyping experience and speculative theories surrounding this concept. We received some feedback as well as met others in the movement and computing community.

My full paper can be found here. It was published and presented at the 8th International Conference for Movement & Computing, Chicago IL.

We have pitched for and received support through the first ever Creative Lab Fund from ELD & LCF to take this project onto its second phase.