Dance Out of Pattern
Dance Out of Pattern is an ongoing research project and a dance and movement practice. The public is invited to engage with it through performances, talks, workshops, and exhibitions.
Visit Outofpattern.dance for the full dance film archive.
Rooted in improvisation and movement, this project investigates how dancing with a non-human agent can heighten our awareness of being human. To do so, it casts a generative AI model in the role of a responsive dance companion – an interactive presence, invited to reflect on, interpret, and challenge human movement.
Rather than seeking seamless assistance, the work embraces friction: AI as an “other,” a digital opponent that introduces resistance, discomfort, and unpredictability. Through this embodied dialogue, the project explores how AI can read and respond to body language. What kinds of narratives emerge when our prompts unfold through movement? Can this tension enhance self-expression, spark creativity, and push us beyond habitual patterns? Ultimately, the work sits with uncertainty – questioning whether dancing with AI feels right, and probing what that interaction can reveal about our relationship with technology.
Recent performances & presentations
2026 June 5
Public Spaces Conference, Amsterdam
2026 June 6
Hyperlink, Waag Futurelab, Amsterdam
Fragments from the compilation include
X Child Dialogues – 4 (# 367)
X The machine laughs and sighs and makes noise (# 331)
X Dancing with Maurice Merleau-Ponty (# 211)
X The AI model’s Dream of having a Body (# 324)
X Dance with an object (# 410)
X My elbow throw doesn’t get acknowledged (# 301)
X What is it counting? (# 384)
X Break up battle 1 (# 412)
X The Perfect Dancer (# 422)X My elbow throw doesn’t get acknowledged (# 301) – reprise
X Transforming into a creature (# 191)
Colophon
Technology: Thomas Boland
Design: Nick Sheeran
Mentor/coaches/feedback by Alexandra Barancová, Janine Huizinga, Gerleen Balstra, Uri Eugenico, Kim Baraka, Miriam Rasch, Soyun Park, Jeremiah Day and Rebecca Sakoun.
Dance Out of Pattern is originated in the 2025–2026 Fellowship Programme in Digital Storytelling of the Netherlands Film Festival (NFF)
Supported by Nederlands Filmfestival, Creative Industries Fund NL