Using Virtual Reality as an Educational Tool for Dance
Abstract
In the current climate of COVID-19, providing high-quality education for students is difficult, particularly regarding fields that are traditionally reliant on in-person teaching interactions. Studies such as sports or dance rely on mentors being able to demonstrate motions and critique students when they emulate the lessons. As the pandemic makes it either limited or impossible to learn physical skills in a traditional classroom setting, we aim to resolve this problem by providing a virtual setting for students to learn in with appropriate resources. This research project aims to provide Virtual Reality-based educational software that can provide dance students with simulated 360 views of fundamental movements. The software allows students to scrub through movements, rotate the virtual instructor, choose from several different dance options, and change the speed of the currently viewed dance movement. Motion capture was used to provide the initial data for fundamental dance positions, to portray these movements accurately. A “muscle mode” is also provided in the interface, highlighting key muscle groups used in specific dance positions and providing information about how they are being used and how to train such muscles to better enhance their ability. Our process for producing this program was creating a very simplified version, where the environment was composed of boxes and the teaching model was a simple cube. This allowed us to make sure all the technical aspects of the interactions were completely functioning before beginning to fill out the environment with the final assets. Our environment also changed throughout the designing process as we worked through what makes a dance studio feel like an inviting and positive space to be learning a new skill. This iterative process became the core of our research as we explored how a person would be the most successful when learning in a virtual environment.
Subject
Virtual RealityEducation
Ballet
Unreal Engine
Dance
Anatomy
Teaching
Oculus
Physical Education
Citation
Massey, Kamryn McKenna (2021). Using Virtual Reality as an Educational Tool for Dance. Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /200621.