Blog Entry #5: Dance.Draw

References

Latulipe, C. and Huskey, S. (2008). Dance.draw: exquisite interaction. Proceeding of HCI 2008 (pp. 47-51). Liverpool: http://www.bcs.org/category/14372.

Article Summary

Dr. Latulipe's Dance.Draw project is part of a project called Exquisite Interactions, in which she explores the interaction of an artist with technology as they create their art. Dance.Draw specifically focused on creating visualizations based on the choreography of a dance for a single dancer controlling a single object, a single dancer controlling two objects, and three dancers controlling a single object. The merit of this system is its portability and accessibility: it uses three sets of two wireless computer mice and their USB receivers, a Mac computer, and a projector; it also costs around $1000, which is much cheaper any other system of its type.

Dr. Latulipe had exhibited this system three times in 2008, each time in a different environment with different restrictions on the display of the choreography and the display of the visualizations. It was well received by both the audience and the dancers at each venue. This systems holds promising potential for future research in the area, according the the choreographer. Some areas that may be explored further include mouse-related choreography, i.e. learning how to deal with the fact that the dancers are holding mice, and alternative sensors to make the performance more organic.

Discussion

I found this application of technology to the field of art very interesting. We have electronic music as a performance art, and graphic design as an artistically-influenced field, but dance has never really presented itself as desirous of the option for technology interaction. To be fair, if there are laser shows at rock concerts, why can there not be visualizations based on a dancer's movements at a dance exhibition? It will be fun to see what doors will be opened by the inclusion of different types of sensors and the accuracy and precision with which the sensors detect the dancers' movements. We could project live-action fantasy movies with real-time renderings of monsters and such... Exciting :)