UC Irvine

This thesis explores the use of immersive and haptic experiences within concert dance and how these experiences enable audiences to co-author the meaning of a work through physical participation. Immersive experiences are generated when audiences are empowered to share a performance space with performers. Haptic experiences engage with our sense of touch and are fore fronted when audiences are allowed to move around within a performance. These kinds of experiences encourage co-authorship by empowering audiences to participate in and affect the outcome of performances. They also encourage co-authorship by prioritizing interpretations based on somatic and self-referential forms of knowledge.