Does touch have impact on free style dance interaction in the VR?

Dancing is a basic natural, spontaneous activity that can bring people together and create a sense of connection. A key difference between dancing in physical environments and dancing in virtual reality is the lack of tactile and haptic stimuli through touch. Here we investigate whether the integration of haptic feedback positively influences interactive pair dance improvisation in virtual reality environments. We describe the design of stimuli for a virtual dance environment and investigate whether they have an impact on user presence, co-presence and unpleasent feelings. To answer these questions, two studies are conducted using focus groups, quantitative questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The analysis of these studies have led to a design for the stimuli and a recommendation for the use of haptic feedback in the virtual dance environments.