Research on the mechanism of emotion expression in dance based on machine learning models

The body language of dancers is vital for conveying emotion. In this study, Kinect is used to detect and track dancers’ movements, and we develop two models: a dance action recognition model based on skeleton data and a dance emotion recognition model using an Attention-ConvLSTM. The action recognition model achieves 88.34% accuracy—reaching its best performance after just 40 iterations—while the emotion recognition model reaches an accuracy of 98.95%. Our analysis shows that features such as eigenvalue speed, skeleton pair distance, and inclination effectively differentiate emotions, although certain emotions (e.g., Excited vs. Pleased and Relaxed vs. Sad) can be confused. Notably, the leg’s skeletal points significantly influence emotion expression. Ultimately, the study establishes a dance emotion expression mechanism through coordinated movement changes of the head, hands, legs, waist, and torso.