About the Project

SCHEDAR, Safeguarding the Cultural Heritage of Dance Through Augmented Reality, was a European research project active from 2018 to 2021. Its research connected traditional dance documentation with 3D motion capture, digital archives and multisensory augmented reality, exploring how these technologies could support preservation, reuse and dance learning.

Dance as Living Cultural Heritage

Traditional dance carries knowledge through movement, music, costume and shared practice. Its meaning also comes from the people who perform it, the occasions that bring them together and the stories passed between generations. UNESCO recognises dance within the performing arts of intangible cultural heritage, where safeguarding includes supporting the transmission of knowledge and skills.

SCHEDAR addressed a practical challenge: recording a performance creates valuable evidence, but making that evidence useful for research, teaching and future interpretation requires both cultural context and accessible digital tools.

From Documentation to Dance Learning

Recording Movement and Context

The project pursued a holistic approach to documentation. Alongside capturing human movement in three dimensions, it aimed to record information about performers, dance forms and the stories surrounding a performance. This approach connected motion data with the cultural knowledge needed to interpret it.

Making Digital Archives More Useful

SCHEDAR focused on three linked challenges: archiving dance motion, enabling its reuse and adaptation, and sharing it with wider audiences. Its research addressed guidelines, frameworks and software tools for working with existing motion databases, helping make complex digital material more accessible.

Exploring Augmented Reality

Multisensory augmented reality offered opportunities to interact with recorded dance and explore new learning experiences. The aim was to bring digital preservation into practical engagement, supporting people who wanted to study movement or learn traditional dances. These objectives are described in Algolysis’s SCHEDAR research overview.

A European Research Collaboration

Coordinated by the University of Cyprus, SCHEDAR brought together Algolysis Ltd, the University of Warwick, University Rennes 2 and the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne. Supported through the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage, the collaboration connected research expertise across Cyprus, the United Kingdom and France. The Heritage Research Hub project profile documents its research period, consortium and safeguarding aims.