Speckled Tango Dancers: Real-Time Motion Capture of Two-Body Interactions Using On-body Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper describes the application of a fully wireless network of on-body inertial/magnetic sensors for the 3-D motion capture and real-time analysis of Tango dancers. Accomplished Tango dancers exhibit both individual flair and good co-ordination with their partners. Features have been identified which differentiate the better dancers, such as chest-bend angle, synchronisation between the chest and foot movements, and chest movement co-ordination, which reflect the performance of both the individual and of the partnership. These features have been analysed on live data for characterising the dancers’ performances. The aim in the future is to design a dance tutoring tool which will analyse the sensor data and provide feedback for improvement.