Yangge, techno-choreography and robots: dancing Chinese folk dance through cultural memory, digital technologies, and the limits of AI embodiment

Xu, Z ORCID: 0000-0002-7819-4517 (2026) Yangge, techno-choreography and robots: dancing Chinese folk dance through cultural memory, digital technologies, and the limits of AI embodiment. In: Speculative Choreographies: Bodies, Economies, and Movement in a World in Flux, 23-25 October 2026, California State University, Long Beach, CA, USA. (Forthcoming)

Abstract

This practice-based presentation investigates how culturally specific movement knowledge and traditional objects transform technological systems when engaged through dance. Drawing on 'Dancing Chineseness and Techno-Choreography' (2026), it examines yangge, the ethnic folk dance of the Han Chinese people, as a site where cultural memory, embodied knowledge, and digital technologies collide. Yangge, originating in the Song Dynasty, remains among the most popular community dances in northern China. Its traditional props, fans, handkerchiefs and gaoqiao, are active choreographic agents. When repositioned as interfaces with digital systems, they reveal how culturally embedded material knowledge reconfigures computational logic. This is the proposition of techno-choreography: culturally specific embodied knowledge transforms technological interfaces rather than merely being captured by them. A dancer trained in the shenyun approach to Chinese classical dance generates motion-capture signatures fundamentally different, not merely aesthetically but computationally, from dancers trained in ballet or contemporary techniques. The 50-minute session runs in three parts. A guided movement exploration draws on virtual reality, real time interaction design, and traditional props as digital metaphors through improvisational tasks requiring no prior dance training. A live demonstration shows how motion-capture interaction responds differently to Chinese dance training, drawing on case studies from Unexpected Bodies (2020) and Being River (2024). A facilitated discussion then turns to YangBOT (2025), in which humanoid robots performed yangge alongside human dancers at the Chinese New Year Gala. AI software captured movements via video and converted them into robotic command codes, raising questions: What does authorship mean when AI learns dance from video? Who owns the digital traces of practitioners' embodied knowledge? Robots can execute yangge with precision, but cannot embody the rhythmic sensibility emerging from generations of cultural practice. This tension between technological capability and cultural irreplaceability frames the inquiry into what values must be protected as AI expands into living dance traditions.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Divisions:	School of Music and Performing Arts
Date Deposited:	28 Aug 2026 17:42
Last Modified:	28 Aug 2026 17:42
URN:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/17923

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