Dancing with a digital double – an evaluation case study of Replica 

How do you feel when you encounter a virtual person? What is an authentic experience of someone? Is there a place for realistic replicas? 

These are some of the questions posed by Replica, a 10-minute mixed reality dance experience by Displace Studio. Replica uses immersive technology to display a virtual dancer who interacts with, and occupies the same space as, a live performer – allowing her to duet with a digital double. Experienced by one audience member at a time, wearing a VR headset, this unique production combines live dance, XR and Volumetric Capture to explore how we present ourselves and connect with each other, in a world of growing digitisation. 

Replica premiered in 2025 at Lakeside Arts with prior audience testing also taking place at Birmingham Open Media and Dance East. It was a finalist for the Lumen Prize 2025. 

Displace Studio used The Space’s evaluation framework to define a set of intended outcomes for audiences, creators and the wider world. 

Intended outcome 

Replica is described as “an emotive mixed reality performance” and the piece asks us to consider key human issues around presence, mortality, memory and ageing.  

As the audience member enters the room, they are met by a real performer. The audience member puts on a VR headset, to see a second, virtual performer, who occupies the same space – the digital double. This intimate duet explores how it feels when real and virtual performers interact in real-time. Will technology allow us to transcend our bodies across space and time, or will we become disembodied?  

In keeping with the themes of the work and the artistic impetus behind it, the Displace Studio team were clear on the intended outcome for individual audience members from the very beginning: they wanted people to have an experience that moves them emotionally in some way – this might be by feeling a sense of excitement or it might prompt them to reflect upon themselves. 

Evaluation methods

Audience questionnaire

Displace Studio ran user testing at these early performances of Replica, which provided them with valuable audience feedback that could be used to inform the final artwork. At each of the three venues, audience members were invited to experience the work and then complete a questionnaire. 

This covered: 

• demographic information e.g., age, ethnicity 

• questions about prior experiences of dance, theatre, and immersive work, including whether they had worn a VR headset before  

• questions related to marketing, including pricing, likelihood of booking a ticket, and questions to help the creators gain an understanding of the most appropriate language to use to market the work in future e.g., ‘What were your expectations based on the name ‘Replica’?’ 

• questions about the experience itself e.g., ‘How would you sum up the themes in Replica?’ and ‘Did you experience any technical issues during the performance?’ 

The questionnaire was made available on an iPad (this was how most people filled it out), via a QR code (for those who preferred to complete it on their own device), and on paper forms. 

Audience focus groups

In addition to the questionnaire, at two of the venues (Birmingham Open Media and Lakeside Arts) audience members were invited to attend a focus group. At Dance East, where a focus group wasn’t possible, a second, more in-depth questionnaire was used. 

The purpose of the focus groups was to ask questions that might be more difficult to answer on a questionnaire, for example, ‘How did it feel to meet a digital replica?’ The focus groups also provided an opportunity for people to be in a room with others who had the same experience as them, but separately, and to compare their experiences. This approach has the potential to add value to the experience itself as well as to influence people’s interpretation of the work and create a sense of something shared. The focus groups were audio recorded and held for a maximum of four audience members at a time. 

The questionnaire captured individual reflections, while the focus groups provided an opportunity for collective processing and discussion. 

Dr Sarah Martindale, an expert in audience studies from the University of Nottingham, supported the Displace team to develop the questionnaires and run the focus groups, and will be part of the team doing further analysis of the audience data gathered. 

The questionnaires gained 37 responses across the three venues. 

The feedback in these indicates that Displace Studio achieved their goal of moving people. Here is a sample of responses to the work: 

“The headset meant that no one could see me cry” 

“Engaging and moving performance” 

“It was beautiful and l loved it.” 

“Connection was very powerful and overwhelming.” 

“It felt intimate and special. It was emotional and unique. I don’t think I’ve experienced anything quite like it before.” 

“a profoundly emotional and beautiful experience” 

“Loved the experience and felt a yearning in watching that I cannot quite describe” 

“Just stunning! I wish I could have experienced it many times – I found it utterly compelling.” 

“It was an emotional experience for me” 

“This was an incredibly moving performance, I was surprised by the connections I made.” 

 

Beyond capturing audience responses to the work, the questionnaires and focus groups also provide insights into the marketing materials, the use of technology, and suggestions of things to improve or consider in future. 

Before we delve into these insights, it’s interesting to note that the vast majority of audience members for Replica were already familiar with immersive experiences – only one person said they had never experienced immersive experiences before (e.g., escape rooms, interactive theatre, site specific performance). Nearly half (43%) had experienced work by Displace Studio before. Only three out of 37 respondents (8%) had never worn a headset before.  

This context is important to bear in mind, particularly when it comes to applying feedback about marketing materials. It’s key not to over rely on feedback from one audience group when thinking about how to engage a different group. In this instance, applying feedback about marketing materials from this immersive experience audience won’t necessarily resonate with people who are new to immersive work. 

Themes

When asked ‘can you sum up the themes of Replica using three separate words?’ some clear threads emerged: 

• Intimate/intimacy was the most repeated word (8 mentions) 

• Self – sometimes self-reflection, or selfhood (7 mentions) 

• Identity – (6 mentions) 

• Doubling/twin (5 mentions), which could be grouped with shadow/shadowing, reflection, mirror, clone, partner, relationship, duality 

• Positive descriptors suggesting enjoyment (5 mentions): Wondersome, Powerful, Positive, Unique, Exciting

• Emotions/emotional (4 mentions)

• Journeys, Progress, Rebirth, Ageing, Awakening, Time, Transformation 

• Tranquillity, Calming, Compassionate, Tender 

By understanding the themes that resonate most with people, Displace Studio can consider how they communicate the experience of Replica to potential audiences in future. These insights can be used in tandem with the feedback on current marketing materials. 

Feedback on marketing materials

Audience members – who attended these test events for free – were asked to read the marketing copy for Replica and rate how likely they would be to book a ticket based on this material. There was a clear variance between the three venues, with Birmingham Open Media achieving the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) of the three (45 – great), compared to Dance East (-16 – needs improvement) and Lakeside Arts (0 – needs improvement). As Birmingham Open Media is a dedicated immersive arts organisation, it’s likely that the high level of familiarity with immersive work among audiences here influences this score. This suggests that the marketing materials could be revised to attract a wider audience at dance and combined arts venues. 

Net Promoter Score is a benchmarking metric widely used to determine customer satisfaction. While it isn’t specific to the arts, it can be a useful way to gauge people’s willingness to recommend something. It’s calculated by categorising responses to a single question and subtracting ‘detractors’ (scores of 0-6) from ‘promoters’ (scores of 9-10). 

The second group our evaluation framework considers is creators – the individuals and organisations involved in the creation of a digital experience. For Replica, this includes: 

• Displace Studio (digital dance artist Kerryn Wise & creative technologist Ben Neal) – primary artistic creators 

• Kim Bormann, Dancer & Co-Choreographer  

• Daniel Frazer, Sound Designer  

• The venues (Birmingham Open Media, Dance East & Lakeside Arts) 

• Broadway’s Near Now talent development programme – Executive Producer for Replica 

• The Space – commissioner and funder of the project 

Thinking about where insights would be most valuable, Displace Studio chose to focus their evaluation on members of the creative team and the venues. 

Intended outcomes

We defined three distinctive outcomes: 

1. For Displace Studio to gain an improved understanding of the experience of the performer and sound designer, to support the sustainability of the work and future working practices   

To achieve this, we conducted remote interviews with Kim (dancer & co-choreographer) and Dan (sound designer) after the third tour date of Replica. The questions were mostly open-ended to encourage in-depth feedback, for example, ‘Tell me about your general experience of making the work with the team?’ and ‘Is there anything that could have improved the experience for you?’ We also included questions focussed on specific aspects, for example ‘Do you feel your role in the project has been fairly credited?’ The interviews were conducted by a member of The Space team to create a dedicated space for reflection and feedback distinct from established working relationships. 

2. For Displace Studio to generate new venue bookings & increased financial investment in Replica  

To support this outcome, Displace Studio’s focus has been on building sustainable relationships with the venues. This is linked to the venues seeing the work in development and being interested in programming Replica as a full work in the future (and/or programming Displace Studio’s future work).  

3. To help increase confidence in programming & marketing immersive work among the venues and the wider sector. This would also benefit Displace Studio and the commissioners.  

To support this outcome, we did two things: shared the audience insights with venue programmers, and gathered feedback from the programmers and marketers at each venue to understand their experiences and needs.

Creative team

The feedback from Kim and Dan was overwhelmingly positive and captures the synergy among the creative team:  

“This stood out positively to me, how much autonomy there was. Because it was so clear, because the roles were so clear, it felt really great to say, yes, I have got this responsibility and there is space for me actually to share that and to express it. It’s been a really rich process and a rich piece of work came together within a fairly short amount of time, and I think that is because everybody was very clear with who they were in the space.” – Kim Bormann, Dancer & Co-Choreographer 

“It’s always felt a bit like a magical thing, working with Kerryn, because she’ll give me these wide open briefs and then I will just respond. Often (that initial response) may only need slight tweaks or it was just correct. So somehow, I don’t know, we sort of understand each other.” – Daniel Frazer, Sound Designer 

Creating an opportunity for reflection and capturing Kim and Dan’s in-depth feedback independently has enabled Displace Studio to reaffirm their confidence in the working environments they have set up. 

Venues

Immersive work and ‘risk’

The programmers at all venues said Replica was a success for audiences at their venue – using words like ‘resonated’, ‘moved’ and ‘engaged’, which chimes with the audience feedback. 

Despite being enthusiastic about the work and feeling trust in the team, all venues said Replica was a risk to programme. The reasons for this were unique to each venue: one cited timing as an issue (this venue had an early January slot); one noted the potential for VR equipment to have hitches; and one venue was uncertain about whether they could attract an audience. 

When asked ‘What are your considerations when programming immersive work in general?’ as an open-ended question, the following considerations were mentioned: 

• Is it accessible and relatable for audiences?  

• Finance – immersive experiences are expensive to run and often have very little ticket yield due to small numbers 

• Quality of the work / experience, on and off-boarding 

• The scale of the work – if it’s a standalone piece that could be a ‘destination’ piece, or if it’s short form and needs to be situated within a bigger event  

• Space, technology and staffing required 

• Selling points and how it relates to the venue’s wider artistic programme  

• Reputation of partners/producers/artists involved

The marketing challenge

How do you successfully market a new immersive experience that’s still being developed? Replica’s challenge is common to many digitally innovative works. Marketing imagery is mentioned in both the programmers’ and marketers’ surveys. One programmer told us:

“it was difficult to see what the project was from the lead image and you had to read quite well into it to understand. We know this is something we need to work on as we continue to bring new experiences to audiences who have quite traditional expectations of ‘shows’.  A trailer / video clips would have been really helpful but we know that this wasn’t available due to the stage of the project, and that the trailer will soon be available.” 

When asked ‘what are the challenges in marketing immersive work’, the two marketers who responded to the survey said ‘understanding what the audience experience will be’. 

It’s interesting to note that, when asked ‘What would help you to feel more confident marketing immersive work in future?’ neither marketer chose ‘Additional budget’, suggesting that it’s the knowledge and experience of how to engage audiences – and who those audiences are – that is most crucial at this time. Other things that one or other of the marketers said would help them were: experiencing the work firsthand, positive audience feedback that can be used in marketing materials, advice on target audiences, and support with how to effectively communicate immersive experiences to audiences. 

Now that Displace Studio is moving into the next phase of touring, they have a variety of new images, video trailers and audience comments to use to market the work. Additionally, based on the feedback from this first phase, the team are developing new marketing materials that they feel better represents the piece.  

“Getting this feedback on the marketing materials and input from the venue marketing teams has really helped us to consider what will work and that this may be very different for different types of venues. For example, we usually would avoid having someone in a headset in the main image, but for venues with audiences new to VR/Mixed-reality, this is very useful as it more clearly shows what the experience is for the audience member. We are now aiming to have a selection of images available in our asset pack, so venues can choose which they think will best resonate with their audiences.” – Kerryn Wise