Transforming Feelings into Movement: A Cutting-Edge Video Collection for Expressing Emotions through Dance

New Video Library Showcases Emotional Expressions Through Full-Body Dance Movements

A group of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics developed a video library showcasing a range of emotional expressions that are depicted through full-body dance movements. In their study published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers describe how the library contains 150 clips, each of them portraying a professional dancer emoting joy, anger, fear, sadness, or a neutral state through different sequences of movements. In this article, we will look at the key facts of the research, the study’s findings, and the potential impact of this video library on various disciplines, including emotional psychology, affective neuroscience, empirical aesthetics, and dance research.

The Study: Key Facts

The interdisciplinary research team involved in this study deliberately refrained from including emotional actions such as “jumping for joy” or “recoiling in fear” to maintain the complexity of the dance movements. To generate the video library, the research team involved scientists from various research institutions, a filmmaking team, and representatives from the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern. The researchers also utilized normative values and codes to create this dataset.

The Findings

The research team tested the video clips on 90 participants, with the majority of them recognizing the intended emotions. In a second task, the participants were asked to rate how beautiful they found the movements, irrespective of which emotions they guessed to be behind them. The researchers found that movements intended to express joy or anger were rated the most beautiful, while all other movement sequences intended to reflect emotions were rated as more beautiful than the neutral dance sequences.

The Impact of the Research

The use of full-body stimuli sets has been quite limited in research on emotional expression, with a particular focus on facial expressions. The creation of this video library for emotional expression through dance movements will provide a valuable resource for various disciplines, including dance research, emotional psychology, affective neuroscience, and empirical aesthetics. The researchers highlight the potential impact of this dataset, particularly for the performing arts and creative industries.

Takeaway

The video library developed by the interdisciplinary research team from the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics offers an innovative way for researchers and creative professionals to explore emotional expression through full-body dance movements. The library can lead to a better understanding of how people recognize emotions and how they react to these emotions.

Abstract:

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics developed a video library that showcases a range of emotional expressions that are depicted through full-body dance movements. The library contains 150 clips portraying emotional states through different sequences of movements. The interdisciplinary team involved was purposeful in not including actions such as “jumping for joy” or “recoiling in fear” to maintain the complexity of the dance movements. The created video library was tested on 90 participants, with each movement sequence rated on their emotional identification and aesthetic judgment, revealing that movements intended to express joy or anger were rated most beautiful. This library can serve as a valuable resource for various disciplines including emotional psychology, affective neuroscience, empirical aesthetics, and dance research.