Movement qualities of the augmented body in XR: insights from dance practitioners

Abstract

This paper investigates how professional dance practitioners conceptualize augmented bodies in Extended Reality (XR). Through semi-structured interviews with 15 dancers using video-based avatar probes, we explored how they evaluate augmented bodies for sensing, performing, and creative exploration. Thematic analysis revealed three themes: (1) structural clarity and generative absence (highlighting anatomical principles for learning versus fragmenting forms for creative disruption), (2) negotiating the midline (balancing bodily constraints with imaginative possibilities), and (3) embodied agency (sculptability, psychological distance, and playful exploration). Our findings show that practitioners interpret augmented bodies primarily through felt experience and expressive potential, rather than through visual form or functional mechanics alone. From this, we derive nine design considerations spanning learning, artistic, and everyday movement contexts. This work contributes conceptual, practitioner-informed guidance for the design of expressive, movement-centered XR experiences.