Negative emotional visual context and improvised dance biomechanics: an exploratory motion-capture study in professional dancers

Dance is a core form of human-environment interaction and a powerful medium for emotional expression, yet dancers are routinely exposed to environmental affective cues that may shape their movement. We examined whether the biomechanics of improvised dance change following exposure to a negative emotional context. Twenty professional dancers performed two 3-minute improvised dances. Between dances, they viewed either Neutral or Negatively valenced pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS; 2 min 40 s, 5 s per image). Eye tracking verified attention to the visual stream. Mood was assessed at four time points (PT1–PT4) using the Brazilian Mood Scale (BRAMS), and full-body, 3-dimensional kinematics were captured at 300 Hz using a 10-camera optoelectronic system (Qualisys) and processed to measure Global Movement Amplitude and Expansion. Negative IAPS exposure increased tension, depression, fatigue, and decreased vigor from PT2 to PT3. Biomechanically, the Group × Time interaction was not statistically significant in either Global Movement Amplitude or Expansion. In pre-planned model-based within-group contrasts, the Negative Stimuli group showed a significant reduction in Global Movement Amplitude after negative IAPS exposure, whereas the Neutral Stimuli group did not. In contrast, Global Movement Expansion remained unchanged. There was no change in mood and no measurable modulation of movement amplitude or expansion in the Neutral Stimuli group. Together, these findings suggest that negatively valenced visual context was temporally associated with changes in selected mood domains and with a possible reduction in movement-amplitude range in professional dancers, but they do not establish a definitive causal or group-differential kinematic effect. They also demonstrate the feasibility of using automated motion capture to examine temporal associations between emotional visual stimulation and spontaneous dance movement.