Check out the amazing line up of instructors!
Andrew Blanton (Good Vibrations - vibe coding for creative performance), Daiane Lopes da Silva and Weidong Yang (Contact Improvisation - Calibrating Mind and Body), Sheldon Smith (Introduction to Isadora), Ian Winters (Isadora II), Avital Meshi +collaborators (Harmonious Cacaphony), Iu-Hui Chua (Tools for Making and Creating at the DanceHack)
There will be two workshops happening concurrently. Check the time and choose the one that you connect with most! There will be a total of 7 workshops. In addition, there will be mentors to assist you during the hacking and preparation for the performances.
Workshops 2026
Workshop: February 20th
1:00pm to 2:15pm
CNMAT - Center for New Music and Audio Technologies
The world of creative coding and building software for stage environments is currently experiencing a revolution in accessibility. Creative technologists now have new tools that allow for flexibility and ease of building that wasn't previously possible. In this workshop, we will look at a set of tools and build basic prototypes that address building for performance environments, looking specifically at strategies for working with dance. Working with technologies that are mostly platform agnostic, we will use agentic coding and discuss specific strategies to build robust software quickly.
Andrew Blanton is a media artist and percussionist. He received his BM in Music Performance from The University of Denver (2008) and a Masters of Fine Arts in New Media Art at the University of North Texas (2013). He is currently an Assistant Professor of Digital Media Art at San Jose State University in San Jose California teaching data visualization. His current work focuses on the emergent potential between cross-disciplinary arts and technology, building sound and visual environments through software development, and building scientifically accurate representations of complex data sets as visual and sound compositions. Andrew has advanced expertise in percussion, creative software development, and developing projects in the confluence of art and science.
Isadora Beginning and Intermediate Level Workshops
Workshop: February 20th
1:00pm-2:15pm
Bechtel Engineering Center, Berkeley, CA 94709
For those that don’t know, the computer program “Isadora” was one of the first (and is still one of the best) software programs that can manipulate media in live performance. Designed decades ago by Mark Coniglio for his company Troika Ranch, Isadora was built with the hope that people of many different skill levels could find it to be a useful way for incorporating technology into live performance. Its possibilities are quite limitless, but it does have a bit of a learning curve. Join us for a 1 hour Isadora 4 workshop with a focus on use for creating immersive live sound and video performance as well as integrating live / interactive data sources such as motion, sensor and robotics either locally or via remote networks. It offers the ability to create technically complex work that is easily usable in improvisational and devised performance contexts.
To facilitate the needs of people with various skill levels, this year’s Isadora workshop will be split into beginner and intermediate groups. Both groups will explore some of the ways that Isadora can be used interactively with moving bodies to generate or manipulate sound and visual media. Various common and easily accessible tools such as iphones and web cams will be used to demonstrate various interactive methods.
Sheldon Smith will lead the beginner group and Ian Winters will lead the intermediate group. Both will happen at the same time and may find some cross pollination of thoughts and ideas towards the end of the session. The workshop leaders will also be available to help facilitate and mentor folks that want to continue to explore Isadora in their hack projects.
Ian Winters is a media and video artist making works for gallery, site-specific projection / light works, as well live performance staged work. Often collaborating with composers, directors, and choreographers, he creates both staged and site-specific visual and acoustic media environments internationally. His work with noted ensembles and directors in performance, and in more traditional video and visual work, has been supported by the Creative Work Fund, the Rainin Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Djerassi, and EMPAC, among many others. He maintains an active worldwide teaching practice, leading workshops in live media and the integration of sensors, physical performance and site-based pieces. He studied video and performance at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University, followed by training in dance / physical theater, and architecture. He is also the co-curator of MilkBar with Mary Armentrout.
Calibration - Contact Improvisation Workshop
Workshop: February 20th
4:30pm to 5:45pm
CNMAT - Center for New Music and Audio Technologies
Explore the art of moving together in real time. In this contact improvisation class, we will engage in deep listening through the body, discovering connection through touch, weight, and shared movement. Contact Improvisation offers a rich practice in collaboration, trust, and physical awareness, making it an ideal space to learn how to attune to others. This class welcomes both dancers and non-dancers alike, inviting everyone to explore movement with curiosity and openness.
Daiane Lopes da Silva (Dai) is the co-founder and artistic director of Kinetech Arts, where she has directed twelve full evening performances, sparking connections between the dance and science communities. Her movement practice includes improvisation, contemporary dance, CI, social dances, ballet and Taichi. Daiane was a guest artist at UC Berkeley, USF, SSU, UC Davis, among others. Her main residencies include Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Headlands Center for the Arts, ODC Theater, 836M, Lucas Artists Residency Program, and others. She studied at The Municipal Ballet of São Paulo, Brazil, and at P.A.R.T.S, directed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in Brussels. She has a B.A in Psychology from SFSU. She has performed with various companies and choreographers in Portugal and the USA and is currently on faculty at ODC Dance Commons and Western Ballet, where she teaches contemporary dance and improvisation.
Weidong Yang (Wei) is the co-founder and director of Kinetech Arts. He founded Kineviz, creating visual analytics solutions for complex data. He received his Ph.D in Physics and Masters in Computer Science from University of Oregon. Weidong was a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley, conducting research on quantum dots. He has collaborated and created many performances and installations. As a dancer, he has performed with various dance companies including KUNST-STOFF, Paco Gomes and Sara Shelton Mann. He was a resident artist at Djerassi Resident Artists Program, ODC Theater, Lucas Artists Residency Program, and Estalagem da Ponta De Sol in Madeira.
To learn more about Dai & Wei’s work, visit www.kinetecharts.org
Workshop: February 20th
2:45pm to 4:00pm
CNMAT - Center for New Music and Audio Technologies
This workshop invites participants to experiment with real-time AI vocal agents, embodying them, and sharing their words out loud through language and sonic resonation. Together, we will explore what it feels like to hold conversations that are mediated, interrupted, or entirely composed by AI-generated language. The session begins with each participant working one-on-one with an AI agent, practicing the act of listening to and attempting to speak its words out loud. From there, we will move into small group exchanges, focusing not only on content but also on intonation, facial expression, and embodied expression. Gradually, the collaborations will expand until the entire group is engaged in a collective conversation, spoken entirely through AI voices. Each participant needs access to a real-time AI agent on their phone (Gemini, Claude, GPT, or any AI agent that offers real-time voice conversation) - download the app to your phone in advance.
Earbuds required (preferably wireless)
Extra agents and devices will be available for those who need them.
*Participants are welcome to participate through closed captioning or other modes of interaction and communication that support access needs. Please contact the Dance Hack organizers for any accommodations or access needs you might have.
Collectively led by Avital Meshi: New Media and performance artist. PhD Student in Performance Studies and Science and Technology Studies, UC Davis. Sheldon Smith: Intermedia artist, composer, dancer and choreographer. Lisa Wymore: Professor UC Berkeley Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. Claudia Alick: National leader, performer, producer, writer, designer and inclusion expert. Executive Producer, Calling Up Justice. Valencia James: interdisciplinary artist from Barbados interested in the intersection between dance, theater, technology, art installation and activism. Hana Kozuka: Choreographer and dancer currently pursuing Data Science at the University of California, Berkeley.
Choreoichnology
Workshop: February 20th
4:30-5:45
Bechtel Engineering Center
Merli V. Guerra leads a workshop exploring what she calls "choreoichnology"—the art of fossilizing a dancer's movements through space. Engage in an exploration of improvisation, motion capture, and 3D modeling (both virtual and physical) to discover how your own movements translate from kinetic experience to sculptural "dance fossil" form.
Merli V. Guerra, MFA in Dance, is an award-winning choreographer and interdisciplinary artist with a focus on dance, technology, and history. Guerra is Assistant Professor of Dance Technology at Texas A&M University and the inaugural Artist in Residence at Waco Mammoth National Monument. She previously co-founded and directed Luminarium Dance Company (2010-2024), an award-winning 501(c)(3) nonprofit merging dance and illumination in Boston, MA, and Princeton, NJ. Her PLACE Project (Presenting Landmarks through Artistic Community Engagement) integrates history, dance, and technology to celebrate cultural and historic landmarks (founded 2012). Guerra has performed lead roles as a modern dancer and classical Odissi Indian dancer with acclaimed companies on tours to India (2007, 2012) and Japan (2009). Her artistic works have been presented by 100+ events across the U.S., and internationally in North and South America, Asia, and Europe, with interactive public art installations permanently on view in the U.S. and Portugal. Guerra is a 2022 recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship Award from New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Mid Atlantic Arts for her work in screendance, and a 2015 recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s prestigious Gold Star Award for her site-specific productions and community engagement. She regularly presents her work merging dance and technology. Recent presenters include Waco Mammoth National Monument (Waco, TX; 2025), Women in Dance Leadership Conference, (L.A., CA; 2024); Meeting of European Theatre Academies Conference (Italy, 2023), and the Museum of Science, Boston (2023). Beyond choreography, Guerra is a freelance graphic designer and arts journalist who served as Art Director of Art New England magazine for five years, followed by her work at Princeton University Press. As a writer, she is Senior Contributor to Boston’s The Arts Fuse, and a dance critic for the Toronto-based Fjord Review and Vancouver-based Dance International magazine.
Tools for Making and Creating at the DanceHack
Workshop: February 20th
2:45pm-4:00pm
Bechtel Engineering Center, Berkeley, CA 94709
In this workshop, participants will be introduced to the Halprin RSVP Cycles through movement improvisation. Learning to make and work through movement scores, participants will experience how to develop embodied themes, intentions, and activities that can be used in the DanceHack. Participants will have the opportunity to perform and evaluate the outcomes of the scores and take home resources for personal and/or professional creative use. People of all abilities and experience levels with movement/dance are welcome to participate!
Iu-Hui Chua choreographs, performs, directs, and devises physical theater, dance, and video performance. She explores the intersection of somatics, performance, process, and creativity. She was a member of Anna Halprin’s Sea Ranch Collective, an associate teacher for Ms. Halprin, and was on faculty at the Tamalpa Institute. Iu-Hui currently is on faculty in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at UC Berkeley, and has presented her work locally and internationally, receiving support from national grants, residencies, and awards.
Past Workshops
Grisha Coleman, Mark-David Hosale, Alan Macy
(BEAM) investigates cutting edge research trends and technology platforms that monitor and augment human function with applications that span the performing arts, creative industries, and the health sectors. The workshop offers hands-on activities using advanced sensor technologies for physiological data for real-time performance with computation, including machine learning. Read more…
In this workshop we will cover concepts such as gaining meta-awareness about the creative process and how everyone in a collaborative group approaches this process differently. Read more…
Ian Winters
A series of hands-on workshops with a focus on the tools for creating immersive live sound and video performance as well as integrating data sources such as motion, sensor and robotics either locally or via remote networks. Read more…
Mark Coniglio
Building on the basic introduction from Friday we will demonstrate and test the new IzzyCast telematic performance tools that allow up to 8 channels of remote real time video, audio, and control data to be directly integrated into Isadora. Read more…
Sydney Skybetter
Skybetter will dive into the origin of choreorobotics, recent advancements in the field, and how emerging technologies can be informed or disrupted by collective action and coalition building. He will cover topics ranging from Boston Dynamics robots, Tesla’s “Party Mode” and Optimus robots, parasitic aesthetic theory, to the movie M3GAN, Artificial Intelligence, and a little bit of Beyoncé. Read more…
Drawing on years of research in New Media and Performance, Avital Meshi invites participants to explore, play, and engage with AI systems that serve as platforms for identity transformation. The workshop features interactive demonstrations of the GPT-ME system, an AI wearable that injects ideas directly into the mind. Read more…
Daiane Lopes Da Silva
In this improvisation class, Daiane will lead you through a sequence of movement prompts designed to warm up the body, sharpen the mind, and heighten your senses. You'll explore how to respond to both internal impulses and the external environment, making deliberate choices in relation to space, time, and each other. Read more…