The Effects of the Presence of an Audience on the Emotions and Movements of Dancers

To examine effects of an audience on dancers, we analyzed differences in dancers’ emotions and body movements in the presence and absence of an audience. We evaluated their emotions using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and analyzed their movements through motion capture. Dancers’ scores for both positive and negative emotions increased in the presence of an audience. The maximum acceleration in hip movements differed depending on whether an audience was present, and the correlation between positive emotions and the acceleration tended to be positively high. These results indicated the presence of an audience affected dancers’ emotions and dance movements.