We describe the research led by the performance Radical Choreographic Object (RCO). RCO is a participatory performance where the audience members respond to instructions and interactions sent to their mobile phones as well as invitations to dance from the performers. The performance provides an experimental ground where we question how humans participate to the dance and how they relate to their mobile technologies. Through observations and conversations with participants during several showings, we show that the participants progressed from obeying and feeling hostage of the interactions to re-interpreting and re-appropriating them. We then discuss these findings in the light of the norms and constraints that are imposed by social behaviours and by the abundance of mobile technologies. We also reflect on the alternatives that emerge where people break free from those norms, embrace eccentricity and dare to dance. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → HCI theory, concepts and models.