Returning to the Body: Somatic Sensing in Multi-Person Virtual Reality Technology

Abstract

This article uses a dance-somatic standpoint to explore the complexitiesof body-technology relations across the virtuality and corporeality of bodiesand environments using multi-person Virtual Reality technology (VR). Immersioninto a virtual environment (VE) using VR can lead to a sense of presence, of‘being there’. Dancers move attending to a field of sensation which is felt andtactile, undertaking somatic and sensory practices to de-centre vision so toforeground and thus activate non-visual and somatic senses. From this dancerlystandpoint, entering into a VE brings into play the immediate effect of aperceptual tension or ‘gap’ between the visual, virtual environment and thephysical, felt environment. Technologists and artists engaging with VRtypically find ways to cover-over this perception gap in order tocreate a reality that is fluidly and synchronously experienced by theparticipant. This article introduces and discusses two participatoryperformance projects Figuring (2018) and Soma (2020)which challenge this approach. Drawing on participant responses to Figuring,and the creative development of Soma, the article presents anddiscusses six themes which unpack and challenge normative notions andexpectations around VR technology and how bodies sensorially engage with thetechnology; and discusses an ‘ethics of care’ which calls for somaticactivation and participatory agency in human encounters with technology.Throughout, the article offers a commentary on the tensions between a thematicresearch approach and an intuitive, practice-led approach in the analysis ofparticipant testimonies and in the creative processes of performance-making.

Keywords

• Dance
• Somatic
• VR
• Senses
• Embodiment
• Perception