This guidebook has been produced as one of the deliverables of the EU Dance Hack project. WP2 – Methods. D2.1 – Guidebook.
Contents
Introduction
The story of the Dance Hack
The ethos
Partners are gold
Less is more
The open call and selection process
Pre-Hack checklist
Embracing the unknown
The structure of the week
The importance of sharing thoughts
The importance of the body
Demo day
Tips to support the creative process
A guide for Dance Hack musicians
Document and share
An ecosystem for a sustainable future
What makes a successful Dance Hack?
Your own Dance Hack
Hello! We’re Tanja and John from TaikaBox
— a not-for-profit dance and technology organisation based in Northern Finland.
This guidebook was written with input from artists, producers, and collaborators across Europe. It’s our way of sharing the concept of Dance Hack — a residency model we’ve developed over the years to bring people together across disciplines and cultures to explore technology in a performance context.
Introduction
At its heart, Dance Hack is about practical experimentation and shared creativity. It’s not about showcasing polished work or pushing individual visions. Instead, it invites dancers, coders, musicians, designers, and other curious minds to co-create from scratch — learning from each other and contributing equally to a collective process.
We believe this kind of collaboration can lead to artistic innovation, and to unexpected insights that resonate beyond the cultural sector, influencing how we relate to technology, each other, and the world around us.
This guidebook will help you understand how Dance Hack works and give you practical tools to create your own week-long residency.
Whether you’re a producer, researcher, artist, engineer or organiser, we hope it inspires you to take part and to join the growing international network of Dancehackers.
photo: Cristina Matei
The story of the Dance Hack
We began developing Dance Hacks in Northern Finland in 2016, not long after relocating from the UK to Oulu — a city best known as the former headquarters of Nokia, once a world leader in mobile phone technology. In the years since Nokia’s decline, a vibrant tech scene had emerged in its place, populated by engineers, startups, and research labs.
We were curious: what would happen if we brought international and local artists into this environment, inviting them to experiment alongside researchers and tech companies? From the very first edition, it became clear that this mix offered far more than just artistic play. It opened up new ways of thinking, making, and collaborating across sectors.
When we started in 2016 we did not have any financial support for the residency but we were keen to get started. There was nothing like it existing in Finland at the time, so convincing funders was not going to be easy without first generating images, videos and participants’ testimonials. Our first Dance Hacks were created in collaboration with the local University of Applied Sciences (OAMK), which provided studios and classrooms for 3 days during the first week of term – before the timetable started and took over all rooms. As a result, the first ODH residencies were short, but quite extensive, consisting of 15-20 international artists.
There was — and still is — a strong need for developing skills in using technology in the performing arts. At the time, artists were so motivated to learn that many were willing to cover their own travel expenses to take part.
Over the years, Oulu Dance Hack moved around to different locations, including theatres, art galleries and dance studios — and the format of the residency adapted to these different situations.
During the Covid lockdown, we needed to scale back the number of participants, and found that this produced a more focused experience, which resulted in closer connections between all involved. Rather than splitting into groups and exploring different technology in each studio, we all worked together in one space, adding layers of tech throughout the week. This also gave us the possibility to work with someone remotely, using our Online Connected Studio system to enable them to collaborate.
Over time, we’ve developed our own way of running a Dance Hack — one that fosters a safe, supportive atmosphere where participants feel free to take creative risks. Our week-long Dance Hack sits somewhere between a hackathon and an artist residency. While we borrow the spirit of a hackathon — rapid idea generation, playful experimentation, and unexpected discoveries — we move away from the competitive, high-pressure model often found in tech or business settings. In our experience, racing against the clock or competing for recognition rarely nurtures creativity. On the contrary, it tends to narrow focus and discourage bold exploration.
Instead, we prioritise trust, openness, and mutual support. When participants feel safe from judgement or failure, they are more willing to test wild ideas, take risks, and embrace the unknown. That’s where the real breakthroughs happen.
Bringing together people from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds naturally exposes everyone to new ways of thinking and doing. As they collaborate to tackle shared challenges, participants expand their comfort zones and begin to see each other as resources. Skills, knowledge, and perspectives are exchanged, and ideas bounce around the room, often landing in surprising, innovative places.
At the heart of this process is hands-on experimentation. Through doing — trying, testing, failing, refining — participants develop shared language and mutual understanding. This practical dialogue forms the foundation for a genuinely collaborative, innovative environment.
Innovation is about daring to explore the unknown and embracing processes that help us reveal what we couldn’t have imagined in advance.
How do we build an atmosphere in which people and ideas can flourish? This is an aspect of the residency that we develop continuously.
photo: Mandi Rukajärvi
The Ethos
Our Dance Hack is based on the idea of non-hierarchical collaboration between the participants. Everyone is a specialist who can contribute something valuable to the process. However, we try to avoid the ego-building exclusiveness of discipline-specific jargon.
The impact of the increasing digitisation of our societies and climate crises are demanding us — performing artists — to change the way we work and the way we reach our audiences. There is an urgent need for exploring and learning new tools in the performing arts sector. However, instead of training artists to become specialists in specific technological equipment, our approach is about teaching how to collaborate with engineers and how to incorporate tech in a performance context. Emphasis is on how rather than what. The reason for this is that technology is developing at an incredible speed and there are already those who are specialists in every technological aspect of life.
We don’t need to become that specialist in order to use it in our art making. However, we need to have enough understanding of how the tech can be incorporated into artistic work, how it functions, and how to communicate with people who are specialists in using it in order to direct the creative process. It is about sharing knowledge between people and professional fields.
Our aim is to become as sustainable as possible in our efforts to create meaningful encounters with long-lasting effects through Dance Hacks. We consider economic and social sustainability just as valuable as greening our operations.
This is the ethos that runs through all aspects of the planning and realisation of the Dance Hack programme.
photo: Peetu Haipus
Partners are gold
We recommend starting small: begin by building a network of key partners who can support the residency with space and equipment. Our first Dance Hacks were created in partnership with OAMK, which gave us access to several studios and some of their technical equipment. Since then, we’ve partnered with a wide range of organisations—from dance studios and theatres to businesses entirely outside the arts and culture sector.
Partnerships allow you to access valuable resources in a cost-effective and sustainable way. The fewer new materials and services you need to purchase, the lower the carbon footprint of your Dance Hack.
When choosing partners, it’s important to establish a mutual understanding from the outset. We always emphasise collaboration, but it’s worth noting that this term can mean different things in different contexts.
In the business world, for example, collaboration often implies a transactional, supplier–customer relationship. It’s essential that all partners feel they’re gaining value from the collaboration and that expectations are clearly communicated. Be specific about roles, responsibilities, and the contributions expected from each partner.
Sustainability should also guide your choice of collaborators — prioritise partners who share your values and your commitment to low-impact, equitable creative work.
Once you have your partners, space, and equipment in place, the next question is: who will lead the process? Do you have the skills yourself, or will you need support?
You don’t need to be a tech expert to facilitate a Dance Hack – but you do need to be comfortable enough with the tools and ideas to guide the group. Take time to familiarise yourself in advance, ideally with a tech partner. Set up simple tests and experiments together. Look for someone curious, open to exploration, and willing to co-create.
You’re unlikely to become a full-fledged technologist, but you can become confident in navigating the space where dance and tech meet. Even if you’re coming from production, we recommend working hands-on: create small experiments with a dancer and a tech collaborator.
Practise communication and co-creation across disciplines. It’s the best way to build the insight and confidence needed to facilitate the full residency.
A common pitfall in digital performance projects is bringing in tech consultants to deliver solutions to artists, rather than with them. These consultants often lack a deep understanding of dance, leading to generic or unusable results. For Dance Hack, the aim is to develop your own hybrid insight — to become a translator between disciplines.
Give yourself time to explore. If possible, find a mentor from the growing Dancehackers network to support your development.
To facilitate well, you need insight, experience—and above all, confidence.
photo: Gábor Dusa
Less is more
When planning your Dance Hack, focus on creating a clear and spacious framework. Prioritise time for shared, hands-on experimentation.
One of the most common mistakes we see is the tendency to overload the schedule with presentations — experts showing participants how to use technology, without giving them the chance to explore it themselves. But real learning happens through doing. Dancers, especially, thrive on embodied, trial-and-error discovery. So make the process as practical as possible.
Think of each Dance Hack as one long improvisation. As a facilitator, you don’t need to have all the answers. Instead, treat your participants as collaborators: involve them in shaping tasks, inventing methods, and driving the research forward. By framing the experience as shared learning, you break down hierarchies and create space for unexpected discoveries.
Mistakes, uncertainty, discussion, reworking — all of these are part of the process. Allow room for the unknown.
The open call and selection process
The participants
When the group is small (5-6 participants) we find that have more time with everyone, can build a stronger and more focused team and we seem to go deeper into the process.
We like to recruit participants through an open call, approaching the selection process as team-building: assembling a “dream team” of skills, experiences, and perspectives. While individual excellence is valuable, it’s not enough — we need to understand how each person’s strengths will complement and connect with others. The emphasis is on collaboration.
Clearly communicating the ethos of Dance Hack — and getting the tone right in your open call — is key to building the atmosphere for the week itself. Be honest about the process and expectations.
We usually ask applicants for a CV, work samples, and a short letter explaining why they want to join the Hack. While all parts of the application are important, the letter carries the most weight. It reveals the applicant’s attitude toward collaboration, their understanding of the Hack, what they can offer, and what they hope to gain.
A strong CV doesn’t compensate for a weak or mismatched letter — trust your instincts if you have doubts.
Ask applicants how they heard about the Hack to help you track your outreach. And remind them (gently) to check that their links actually work!
We have a rule: every application is read, every link is viewed, and we make notes on every candidate. At minimum, two people review all applications. We also bring in a moderator — someone with a perspective that broadens our own in terms of dance, diversity, or access. The moderator pays particular attention to applications where the core panellists disagree. This role helps us reflect critically on our own process and supports a more robust, inclusive selection.
We use an online folder/spreadsheet to share application materials, and colour-code our notes to simplify the process. After initial scoring and moderation, the team meets to discuss the shortlist and agree on final selections.
All applicants are contacted by email. Shortlisted candidates who weren’t selected are often given personalised feedback — this can be a valuable way to keep the connection open for future opportunities.
What are we looking for?
In both the Open Call and selection process, we’re not just picking artists — we’re building a team. We pay close attention to how we think applicants will work with others, and whether their skills complement the group as a whole.
Everyone starts from zero
We ask participants to arrive at Dance Hack without a pre-planned idea or existing project. This is crucial. When people are emotionally invested in an idea they’ve already developed, they’re more likely to protect it — consciously or not. This can lead to conflict, competition, or imbalance in the group. By starting from a shared blank slate, participants meet on equal ground, facing the unknown together. This creates trust and cohesion from the start. We make this clear in the Open Call and reinforce it again in our pre-Hack meetings.
Only individuals may apply
We don’t accept applications from existing duos or teams. Previous collaboration between applicants can create unintended imbalances. Everyone should come to the process fresh, ready to get to know the group on equal terms.
Openness to collaboration matters most
This is the core of Dance Hack. We’re bringing together people from different disciplines, cultures, and ways of working. That mix can only thrive if everyone comes with strong collaborative instincts — curiosity, respect, listening skills, and the ability to clearly express their thoughts. We can often spot these qualities in the support letter.
A diverse, balanced team
We aim to create a group with a wide range of abilities and perspectives. The Hack works on a flat structure — not a teacher-learner model — so everyone’s experience is a resource. We often pair highly physical performers (e.g. dancers or circus artists) with little prior tech experience, alongside coders or media artists. Even among performers, we seek varied physical styles. This diversity encourages exchange, avoids unnecessary competition, and allows each participant to offer something unique to the group.
Environmental responsibility
Sustainability is a core value. We don’t fly participants to the residency, and we look for artists who share our commitment to low-carbon travel and slower, more conscious ways of working. We cover the cost and time involved in slow travel, which also helps build a strong collective atmosphere — participants arrive more committed and connected.
Every year, we calculate the carbon footprint of each project, from heating the space to travel and materials. We reduce emissions where we can, and offset what we can’t through forest-based compensation in Northern Finland. This includes planting trees and improving carbon sinks.
Pre-Hack checklist
Technology is a core part of Dance Hack, shaping both the creative process and the final performances. While there are no strict rules about what kind of space or equipment is needed, your choices can have a big impact on the experience. These recommendations aim to help create a flexible, functional, and inspiring environment.
General setup
Dance Hack can happen almost anywhere — a theatre, a studio, a gallery, a classroom. But whatever the space, it needs to support collaboration and accommodate a team that may grow bigger than you expect. Even with just five invited artists, you’ll likely have mentors, musicians, technicians, camera crew, and support staff joining throughout the week. 16-20 people is a reasonable estimate.
The space should be:
• Comfortable and safe: Avoid overly echoey rooms, which make communication hard, and spaces that are too cold or have hard concrete floors, which can be tough on dancers.
• Flexible with furniture: You’ll almost certainly need some tables and chairs. If these aren’t already in the room, know where to find them. Likewise, if the room is too cluttered, make sure you have a plan for storing extra furniture.
• Adaptable for performance: While the week is primarily focused on research and exploration, most Dance Hacks end with a demo. Make sure the space can transition to accommodate an audience. It’s easy to take over every corner during the week — but keep in mind that some of it may need to be reclaimed by the public at the end.
In some cases, everyone works on a single project. Other times, the group splits into two or three smaller teams to explore different tech or ideas. A larger room — or a venue with several nearby rooms — makes these shifts easier to manage. Just make sure the different groups can still stay connected, both physically and creatively.
Performer/technician/audience relationships
In traditional performances, dancers perform in front of an audience, with visuals playing in the background.
At Dance Hack, that relationship is often more fluid.
Tech artists are not just behind-the-scenes — they’re performing too. Their work is an integral part of what unfolds on stage. Proximity between tech and dance artists is key, both for creative exchange and practical needs. Some sensors require short distances to function correctly, and sometimes a cable is just too short. Keeping people and gear close avoids unnecessary roadblocks.
Importantly, allowing the tech artists to be seen by the audience enriches the performance. It highlights the collaborative nature of Dance Hack and invites the audience into the creative ecosystem, rather than simply presenting a polished outcome.
Essential tools and support
Before diving into specific tech, make sure the basics are covered. You’ll need:
• Plenty of power: Extension cables and power strips—more than you think.
• Work surfaces: Enough tables for gear, laptops, tools, and snacks.
• On-site knowledge: Someone who understands the venue — where the keys are, how the lighting desk works, where the ladders live. This person doesn’t need to stay all week, but should be on hand during setup and available as needed. Ideally, they’re open to being part of the team — but make sure they understand the ethos of Dance Hack if they take on a more embedded role.
Visuals and projection
Projection is often the first tool people reach for when bringing technology into a performance. It’s fast, responsive, and visually striking. Most theatre venues have a projector and a built-in screen at the back of the stage — but there are a few important considerations:
• Screen size and placement: Avoid small, teaching-style screens. Aim for something large that reaches close to the floor — this makes the image feel part of the space, rather than hovering above it.
• Projection angles: If the projector is positioned too low, dancers may cast shadows or end up washed out by the beam. A steep angle — using a wide-angle lens and rigging from above — can help mitigate this.
• Connectivity: Ensure the projector can be operated from the tech desk.
But projection doesn’t have to mean one big screen. Think creatively: Use portable projectors, TV monitors, or floor projections. Project onto costumes, fabric, gauze, or unusual surfaces. Play with scale, layering, and positioning to make the visuals feel integrated and alive.
Lighting
Lighting is another essential ingredient—and it’s closely tied to projection. You need the space to be dark enough for visuals to be visible, but bright enough for dancers to be seen.
In galleries or studios: Block out sunlight with blinds or blackout curtains, and adjust any track lighting to focus on the stage area without spilling onto projection surfaces.
In theatres: Take advantage of stage lighting where possible. If you have access to the equipment (and someone who knows how to use it), you can create dynamic, responsive lighting effects to support the work.
Sound and music
Sound is often central to the work at Dance Hack, whether it’s live music, spatial audio, or interactive sound systems. Good sound makes a big difference, and it’s worth setting up properly from the start.
• Monitoring: Musicians need to hear clearly, so have a plan for monitoring. Smaller speakers or personal monitors can help reduce noise pollution in the room. Headphones are essential.
• House system: Most performance venues will have a main sound system. Make sure it’s available and that someone can operate it.
• Submixers: A simple, flexible submixer allows quick changes and gives musicians some independence when adjusting levels — very helpful during experimentation.
• Cables and adapters: Always have extras. Dance Hack environments are dynamic, and unexpected connections are bound to arise.
• Soldering skills: Having someone who can solder a cable or fix a connector on the spot can be a lifesaver.
• Final sound check: Plan a short sound check on the day of the demo. Even if everything worked perfectly at the beginning of the week, things will have shifted.
Choosing technology
At the heart of Dance Hack is the meeting of dance and tech. But what kind of technology does it make sense to supply?
There’s no single answer — it depends on the focus of your event and the needs of your participants. Here are some common categories:
• New and experimental tech: Prototypes, research tools, or early-stage hardware. These offer participants a chance to play with something they wouldn’t normally have access to.
• High-end production tools: Motion capture systems, robotics, or other expensive equipment used in professional productions. These can open doors to new approaches.
• Consumer-grade tech: Cameras, microphones, smartphone sensors, or accessible software. These tools are easy to continue using after the event and often encourage sustainable, self-directed exploration.
• Everyday (un)tech: Sometimes, low-tech or non-tech materials spark the most creativity. Things like domestic lighting, paper, clothing, or found objects — especially in large quantities — can transform into meaningful components when reimagined through a hacker’s lens.
Whatever you provide, make sure it’s hackable. This means:
• It should be compatible with other systems.
• It should work in real-time, or close to it.
• It shouldn’t require complex/expensive licensing or permanent user accounts.
• If access is restricted, offer temporary logins or ensure someone is on hand to help troubleshoot.
Also, bring someone who really knows how to use any specialized gear. For instance, if you’re providing a MoCap suit, make sure there’s someone who understands both the hardware and the software needed to process and visualize the data.
A word of caution: Some tech is fascinating but not practical in a dance context. For example, EEG is compelling, but brainwave sensors don’t work well on moving bodies — so it may end up being a dead end.
Be realistic about what’s truly usable in the space.
One past experience highlights this: We partnered with a major electronics company known for high-end AV gear. We were expecting monitors, projectors, and speakers. Their reps showed up with a hairdryer and a broken shaver. Nobody knew what to do with them, and the opportunity for meaningful collaboration was wasted.
Participants’ tech
Sometimes participants may want to bring their own technology. This can be a valuable asset, but there are three key considerations:
• Tech expertise imbalance: If only one person knows how to use the equipment, they may end up spending most of their time facilitating others rather than participating themselves. This might be their intention — but it could also create an unbalanced dynamic. It’s worth discussing expectations in your pre-Hack online meeting.
• Creative flexibility: People often default to presets or existing work. Make sure their tech setup is easy to use for building something new from scratch. You want to avoid two extremes: someone spending three days deep in code, or simply reusing a previous effect that doesn’t truly serve the group’s exploration. It’s a delicate balance, and requires subtle mentoring to encourage the participant to share their methods with the team as part of the research and development of an idea together.
• Ownership dynamics: When a participant brings their own system to the Hack, it often comes with a pre-formed idea of how it should be used. This can sometimes lead to an unintended dynamic, where the rest of the group ends up supporting that individual’s vision, and the tech-owner unintentionally takes on a directing role. While this can be valuable in some contexts, it may also create an imbalance in collaboration. To help avoid this, it’s useful to set expectations in advance: encourage participants to share any technology they bring and allow others to take the lead in exploring how it might be used in movement. This opens up more opportunities for creative exchange and keeps the process collaborative.
Communications
We arrange an online meeting with the participants – usually 2 or 3 weeks before the residency. This provides an opportunity for them to meet each other, discuss the ethos of the residency and address any questions that they may have, including travel and accommodation logistics. Setting up a WhatsApp (or similar) group can help with realtime distribution of information.
We then collect personal intros and selfies from all participants which are then shared through our social media channels in the weeks leading up to the Hack.
photo: Cristina Matei
Embracing the unknown
Not asking participants to arrive with a pre-planned project creates fertile ground for discovery — but it also demands more active facilitation from you as host.
Once the team arrives, your role is to help them orientate, connect, and begin moving toward a shared sense of purpose. Without this support, there’s a risk of the process stalling.
It can feel daunting not knowing what’s going to happen during the week. But there are ways to guide the residency without fixing the outcome in advance. Think of facilitating Dance Hack like leading an improvisation: you propose a task, observe how it unfolds, then adapt and reshape based on what emerges. Stay alert, responsive, and ready to pivot.
As with all improvisation, surprises will happen. And because Dance Hack involves technology, things will occasionally go wrong. The tech team may need time and space to troubleshoot. Support them by adjusting the schedule, offering others a short break, or clearing the room to reduce pressure. Stay in close communication with the tech artists to make sure they have what they need.
If a problem persists, don’t hesitate to bring the group together and reconsider the plan. Sometimes it’s better to let go and shift direction completely rather than push through a technical issue that’s holding the whole process back.
photo: Daniel Forizs
The structure of the week
We tend to run 5-day Hacks — but this could be adjusted — although 3 or 4 days feel a bit too short for us. Any longer periods, on the other hand, can dilute the sharpness of the process and also make it more difficult for those with families to attend.
We structure the Dance Hack week as simply as possible to allow as much practical work together as possible. We don’t include any keynote speakers or lectures on how to use technology — we believe in learning by doing.
As the main participants have already met online, and the team has been virtually introduced, this eliminates the need for that predictable first-day activity of everyone standing in a big circle, taking turns to tell a bit about themselves. ‘Circle time’ can feel daunting for some, make people nervous and distracted and it can be counterproductive for building a non-hierarchical atmosphere within the team. Instead, we tend to use an introductory task of ‘tuning in together’ as a way to get to know each other through creative collaboration.
Everyone is actively participating — including those involved in documentation. It is important that there is no one in the space who is left outside the task. The task is an act of observing, sharing and learning about each other and the group.
When setting up this task, it is important to emphasise that everyone contributes to the improvisation in their own way. Dancers will probably be dancing, musicians creating the soundtrack, media artists plugging into projectors, designers working with stuff they find in the space and photographers entering the stage to find interesting angles.
People do not have to stick to their expected roles, but it can be a good way to get acquainted.
It can be tempting to treat this exercise like a community dance class, getting everyone moving together, but this can sometimes result in pushing people out of their comfort zones — which is not a good start to the week. What we want to aim for is facilitating people to gradually expand their comfort zones over the course of the week, so that by the end of the residency they have new experiences, new skills and new friends.
The first day also includes a practical workshop in the use of interactive technology in a performance context, this helps to get everyone on the same page.
The following three days are all about practical research. This is structured around 4 or 5 impro sessions per day. These sessions often begin with the whole group exploring a certain piece of technology together, and then working together on a creative improvisation session, followed by group discussion.
It is useful to create a framework for each improvisation: How long will we aim to be in the zone? What is the starting point? Is there something we want to try to include? Who is involved and who is observing? Are the tech people ready to try something out?
Make sure everybody is aware of the task before it begins.
The importance of sharing thoughts
Through sharing thoughts and experiences of the work together, our understanding of other people’s ideas and viewpoints deepens and we learn to speak a common language within the team.
Developing dialogue and common understanding is incredibly valuable for a good collaboration.
Comparing our observations from inside (how it feels to participate in the task) and outside (what it looks like to watch as an audience member) we gain a better understanding of the process itself. It is good to talk about what are the highlights of the interactivity? What does the movement/imagery/sound communicate? Is everyone taking the work in a similar direction? What can be improved?
Discussions with everyone participating in active listening and giving feedback are also good tools for strengthening bonds between the team members — giving the feeling that you are part of something bigger.
It is important to not be precious about these sessions, don’t hang onto something that is not working, even if you have invested time in getting it to the stage where it is ready to explore. But make a note of those moments that work well, where the relationship between the movement, sound and technology feels natural and communicates clearly. These moments can be developed into short dance sketches, or incorporated into other ideas throughout the week.
During the final day we like to open the doors and invite the public into the research to explore the themes together with us, share the discoveries of the process, discuss and even offer the audience an opportunity to try out the technology used.
We have found that the first two days are the most important in setting the tone of the Dance Hack and they take the most energy and consideration. After that — if we have managed to set the mood right — the participants can naturally take over ‘driving’ the process or ‘owning’ the process and we as facilitators can step back. Once that shift happens we know that we have succeeded and people will leave from the Hack feeling energised with new ideas and networks.
Your work as a facilitator, however, is not over after the first two days. Your main task from there on is to steer the creative exploration. Keep its directions and rhythm by asking questions, providing feedback and by keeping time. You need to stay agile in your role and continuously be aware of when to intervene and how much you need to contribute to the exploration, and when it is right to pull back and let the participants just explore without outside interaction.
The importance of the body
As the work during the Dance Hack week heavily involves the use of technology in different ways, we like to start our days by focusing on our bodies. Each morning, we dedicate an hour for body-based practices led by the participating artists. The aim is to provide artists opportunities to introduce elements of their movement practice and hence create a deeper understanding of each other. This helps to build the team by promoting equality and fostering the development of a non-hierarchical atmosphere. The group offers a wealth of resources — much more than a single workshop leader can provide.
We also close the day by bringing the focus back to our bodies by doing gentle body work, massage or some other practices that care for ourselves — bodies and minds. All these sessions are open to everyone involved in the Dance Hack residency — not just the dancers. They are great for supporting the team to bond together.
Demo day
At the end of the Hack week we invite an audience into the space, which provides an opportunity to continue our research in a performance context, adding another layer of interaction to the interdependent ecosystem that has been created during the week.
We advertise the end of week event as a demo or sharing of ideas, not a performance or show, and never charge admission. This helps to rein in the audiences’ expectations. It is a perfect opportunity to talk to people, introduce the team, explain that nobody knew each other before we brought them to the studio 5 days ago and emphasize that what they are about to see is a series of sketches, not a finished product, and therefore anything could happen.
Always encourage the audience members to interact with the performers and equipment afterwards.
Tips to support the creative process
Be active against discrimination
The broader the cultural backgrounds of your participants, the richer the collective toolkit for creative problem-solving. It’s absolutely essential that everyone feels respected and valued as part of the team.
To support this, we recommend putting a non-discriminatory policy in place — and making it a living practice. At our Dance Hacks, everyone entering the research space — including visitors such as media or press — is made aware of this policy and signs it before becoming part of the process. This builds trust and creates space for cultural dialogue as well as creative exploration.
A good policy does more than set rules. It helps prevent discrimination that can arise unintentionally, through misunderstandings or offhand comments. We emphasise that everyone is in a learning process, and respectful dialogue is an active part of the creative journey.
Avoid jargon
Every field has its own specialist language — engineers and dancers, for example, often use terminology unfamiliar to those outside their discipline. A dancer may mention plié, and unless you’re from that world, you may not know what that is.
Specialist language can streamline communication within a field, but in cross-disciplinary settings, it can easily become jargon — used (consciously or not) to assert expertise or create distance. In a Dance Hack, this can quickly become a barrier to collaboration.
We encourage participants to describe complex ideas in simple, accessible terms. Good dialogue builds trust, and trust makes creative risk-taking possible. The more risks we take together, the stronger our bonds become. It’s a positive cycle — one that starts with clarity and mutual respect in communication.
Mentors are your allies
Technology has been part of performance-making for a long time, but the current push to integrate digital tools across artistic practices is growing — driven by both curiosity and pressure from funders and society. Yet there’s still a shortage of people who can effectively support artists in this transition.
If you don’t have the technical know-how to lead the Hack yourself, build a network of collaborators who do. Mentorship plays a crucial role in Dance Hack because participants often arrive with very different levels of technical experience. Some may have worked only with one type of technology, while others are encountering digital tools for the first time.
This variation in skill, confidence, and experience requires sensitive facilitation. That’s why we’ve developed a mentorship model in which mentors are fully embedded in the process. They don’t just drop in — they work alongside participants in the studio throughout the residency. They help troubleshoot problems, offer alternatives when things get stuck, and keep momentum going.
Mentors also serve as a bridge between the host organisation and participants. It’s vital that their skills complement your existing team, and that they understand and support the ethos and goals of the Hack. They should have experience in collaborative processes, strong communication skills, and the sensitivity to respond to the atmosphere in the room.
We prepare mentors in advance and hold regular catch-up meetings with them during the residency. These check-ins help us stay aligned, address issues early, and support one another as the process unfolds.
photo: Cristina Matei
A guide for Dance Hack musicians
Prepare your tools
The pace of a Hack week is fast — be ready to sketch musical ideas quickly. If you’re using a DAW, set up a template with a few versatile synths, one more experimental (granular, phase distortion, etc.), some drum sounds, and key effects. Use familiar MIDI controllers with easy-to-adjust macros to avoid losing time in menus.
Stick to one evolving DAW project through the week. Before the final demo, tidy it up: remove clutter, group tracks, colour-code, and streamline navigation. Use a stable audio interface—fancy gear is optional, reliability isn’t.
Hardware can be a real asset. A hands-on groovebox (like the Novation Circuit) or a live effects unit (e.g. Kaoss Pad) lets you play without getting stuck in a screen. These tools free you up to stay present in the room and collaborate actively.
Bring decent headphones, and if possible, small speakers for monitoring. Ask the venue tech for a limiter on your output — experiments can spike unexpectedly.
Recording the final show isn’t essential, but great if you can coordinate early with the media team. Also bring a field recorder: unexpected sounds or participant ideas may be worth capturing and sampling.
Hack your instruments
If you’re using acoustic or non-electronic instruments, experiment! Run them through effects, sample and loop them, or attach piezos/contact mics to unusual surfaces or tech hardware for live interaction.
Collaborate
Get involved with the others in the tech team. Many are happy to send you live OSC or sensor data you can use to shape your sound. You can send data out too. Tools like Isadora can route OSC into MIDI for your DAW.
A shared network is essential — LAN is best, but WiFi can work if necessary.
If there are other musicians involved, meet early (ideally a week before) to compare setups and coordinate gear.
Stay flexible
The dancers’ styles will shape the music — embrace that. Not every idea will stick, and that’s fine. Try to play without constantly watching your screen. Stay focused on the physicality and flow on stage.
Developing signature sounds linked to dancers or tech actions can help orient your sound in the space.
Be present
Don’t come to showcase finished tracks. This is a space for building something new with others. A backup folder of loops or patches is fine — but improvise, respond, interact. Be proactive in early group conversations: ask about tempo, space, tension, noise. Those cues help shape your role in the project.
As the end of week demo nears, know the structure: what happens when, and how to jump between sections.
Take notes. Be prepared.
Above all, don’t disappear into your headphones. Presence and responsiveness matter more than polish.
Document and share
The Dance Hack can become a bit of a bubble, with the whole team locked inside the studio for a week. If you want to attract more partners for future Hacks, it is important to record what goes on and share it with the wider public. There isn’t going to be time for your organisers to grab cameras and record the process, so it’s always good to have at least one person on your team who is there just to document.
Photos and videos are essential for promoting future events. Sometimes it can be useful to produce bite-sized content for social media platforms throughout the week in addition to a more thoroughly-edited short film at the end of the residency.
Your camera crew should be considered as part of the team and be encouraged to take part in discussions and to document tasks from the inside — they don’t need to be invisible observers.
It is not so useful to have documentation of the warm-up and cool-down sessions, and the presence of cameras during these times of the day can be a little distracting for the participants, so encourage your camera crew to put their equipment away and take part.
An ecosystem for a sustainable future
Dance Hack isn’t just a one-week residency — it’s the visible tip of a much larger effort to reimagine how the performing arts can function in today’s world. You might try it once as an experiment. But if the goal is to create a sustainable model, secure resources, and offer a meaningful platform for ongoing learning in the arts, you’ll need to cultivate a wider, more diverse ecosystem. Think of this ecosystem as a root network that anchors and nourishes the residency — a living system made up of partners across business, education, and culture.
We see this ecosystem as dynamic, not static — a collaborative community of organisations that interact, evolve, and grow together. Businesses, of course, are usually driven by profit. So when building partnerships, you’ll need to clearly communicate the value and relevance of working with Dance Hack. The arts and business sectors have different purposes, but we believe strongly in their ability to exist in symbiosis. In fact, in a rapidly changing world, we believe they need each other.
Many businesses today recognise that creative thinking drives innovation. In tech and engineering, the development process is often results-driven and strictly pre-planned — an approach that limits creative exploration. Artists, on the other hand, are experts in uncertainty, intuition, and iteration. These are essential ingredients for innovation. Dance Hack thrives on these skills, and this is where artists offer real, tangible value to companies.
That said, we still have work to do. The connection between art and innovation isn’t widely recognised — yet. Tech companies aren’t queueing up to join Dance Hacks (not yet, anyway). So we need to do the work: building trust, building awareness, and building relationships — systematically and patiently.
The good news is that many businesses are now looking for more meaningful partnerships — something beyond just putting their logo on a poster. The hands-on, collaborative nature of Dance Hack offers companies a chance to engage with culture in deeper, more authentic ways. This kind of cross-sector collaboration can help everyone: it creates new economic opportunities, opens pathways to private funding, and helps cultural organisations explore fresh operating models.
There’s much to learn from the business sector — and vice versa. Dialogue is crucial, especially in areas like user rights, ownership, and IP, where practices may differ significantly.
What can businesses gain?
The list is long. Collaborating with artists can:
• Boost creative thinking across teams
• Inspire and energise staff
• Inform product development
• Provide embodied, real-world testing and feedback
• Generate compelling content and media attention
• Attract new audiences and potential clients
• Connect companies to the soft power of culture — something increasingly valued in branding and communication
These are not abstract benefits — they’re practical, measurable, and aligned with many companies’ evolving priorities.
The ecosystem we’re building around Oulu Dance Hack doesn’t just support our own residency — it contributes to a broader movement for socially and ecologically sustainable growth in our region.
As with all meaningful partnerships, it starts with trust and personal connections. The groundwork takes time. Start by identifying individuals with strong business networks or connecting with venues where entrepreneurs and professionals already gather. See if your city has a business incubator, advisory body, or innovation platform that supports start-ups or links business and culture. If so, learn how you can get involved — attend events, share your ideas, or propose your residency as a case study.
Understanding how the business world works is essential. The differences go beyond budgets or timelines — it’s a different culture. But the more familiar you are with their language and rhythm, the better equipped you’ll be to bridge the gap and guide company reps toward meaningful involvement in cultural processes.
Let the work speak
Words only go so far. Have you ever tried explaining to a software engineer why they should care about a dance project? Or asked them to imagine how a dancer might use their tech? It’s not easy. That’s why we’ve found that practical demos are by far the most effective tool. Show the work in action — let them see and feel the interaction between bodies and technology. It changes minds. It sparks curiosity. It builds momentum.
But be strategic: cultural venues aren’t always the best place to host these sessions. Business reps may never walk through the door. Instead, go to them — run demos in a business hub or embed them in a partner’s existing event. Companies are often interested in associating their products with cultural innovation because of the visibility and media buzz it can generate.
We’re constantly on the lookout for interesting technology providers. When we find one, we go straight to the top — speaking directly with founders or senior staff.
Before bringing their tools into the residency, we always test them. This might include a meeting where we pair the tech with dancers in a real-world context, exploring what’s possible. Sometimes this leads to modifications in the product, or even longer-term collaboration with engineers. These experiences often shift a company’s understanding of what art can do — and how it can influence their own work.
Be patient. Be consistent. Building a Dance Hack ecosystem is a long-term commitment. It won’t happen overnight. But with persistence, care, and clarity of vision, you’ll create partnerships that don’t just sustain your residency — they help change the landscape for what’s possible in the performing arts.
photo: Jorge Lizalde
What makes a successful Dance Hack?
Success in a Dance Hack can mean different things to different people. For us, it unfolds across several dimensions. Primarily, it’s about the participants’ satisfaction and how they carry forward the experience — applying the knowledge gained, leveraging the network, creating new projects with fellow participants, and nurturing the broader Dancehackers community.
If we have invited a local business into the process, and they are actively involved in the Hack week, this is a good sign of success, with the business more likely to invest their time in future collaborations with artists.
We collect feedback through participant surveys to evaluate how well we have met different aspects of the residency.
Beyond participant experience, signs of success include attracting more technology partners, securing stable funding for the project’s long-term future, and reaching audience members who leave the room inspired and energised.
Additionally, we assess logistical elements such as travel and accommodation to continuously improve the overall experience. You can tailor evaluation and monitoring tools to fit your specific goals and context.
We feel that we have truly succeeded when we see that long-term partnerships and collaborations have emerged from people Dancehacking together.
photo: Jorge Lizalde
Your own Dance Hack
So now you know a little more about how we run a dance/tech residency. What next? Of course you can go ahead and organise your own event but if you want to brand it as a Dance Hack, and connect with the established Dancehackers international network, then contact TaikaBox to discuss how we can help you to become part of the Dance Hack family.
Written by Tanja Råman, John Collingswood and Jussi Alaraasakka, with support from Central Europe Dance Theatre and Developing Art