IMTC is a key player
in an ongoing collaborative project between the Atlanta Ballet and
Georgia Tech's Robert Ferst Center for the Arts. The project's charter
is to find innovative ways to integrate technology and the arts,
specifically dance. The project's first performance, "Non Sequitur,”
featured a ballerina dancing with a computer animated "virtual"
dancer and was shown on CNN's Future Watch program in May of 1994.
In April of 1995, the project, under the direction of Paul Ackerman
of the Robert Ferst Center for the Arts and choreographer Lisa De
Ribere, presented "Springing Grass.” IMTC tried out its
newly designed motion capture system. In this production, the dancers
wore infrared emitters, invisible to the audience but detected by
special tracking cameras. The locations of these targets were computed
and fed to an SGI Indigo graphics computer simultaneously, or in
“real-time.” The animation video output of the Indigo
was then fed to a high brightness video projector for projection
onto the stage. The results were animated particle trails of the
dancer's hand movements projected onto a nearby sheet of see through
mesh.
The 1996 Dance Technology Project, choreographed by David Parsons,
demonstrated animated dancers and virtual costumes through real-time
optical motion tracking and projected animation of costumes onto
the dancers.
The 1997 Dance Technology Project featured the use of a graphics
super-computer that was made available in the theater through fiber
optics telecommunication, about 2 miles away. This performance featured
motion tracked balls that were tossed around, causing tumbling 3D
objects such as an elephant, house, and space shuttle to appear
in place of the balls. A dancer outfitted with a motion tracking
system, danced on stage next to her cyber re-embodiment. Possible
future developments could include a 3D choreographer's sketchbook,
motion capture and visualization for dance analysis and injury prevention,
and interactive dance through audience participation. The project
was selected to provide a key production for the Cultural Olympiad
during the 1996 Olympic Games.
On April 29, 1998 was the world premiere of a new dance technology
piece titled “Desired”. Created in collaboration with
Tech's Interactive Media Technology Center (IMTC), the dance featured
choreographer Nicole Livieratos and the GardenHouse Dance Company.
On November 8th, 1999, IMTC in collaboration with The Savannah
College of Art and Atlanta’s Beacon Dance, premiered a 45
minute interactive dance performance titled “E-Motion”.
The piece focused on the nine movements that are the building
blocks of dance - Rise,
Collapse, Bend, Stretch, Circle, Twist, Swing, Sway, and Shake.
Over 80 students and Faculty at SCAD helped generate ideas and
animations
based on these terms to link issues of dance and creativity with
those of technology and digital culture. IMTC provided integration
of the ideas and animations into technology used in the performance.
Technologies utilized included: 3D motion capture, real-time 3D
graphics, body cams, interactive infra-red sensors, laser
sensors, dance pads, real-time visual and audio manipulation,
remote data
processing and visualization (Savannah to Atlanta and back), IR
motion tracking of the dancers, and more.
Choose a Dance Tech Performance, or scroll
to browse all.
[ 1999 | 1998 | 1997
| 1996 | 1995 | 1994
]
Dance Tech 1999
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images from the Dance Technology 1999 live performance
Dance Technology "Life"
Performance
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Dance Tech 1998
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Dance Tech 1997
click on a thumbnail below for a larger view (JPG: 640 x 480)
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images from the Dance Technology 1997 performance
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Dance Tech 1996
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Dance Tech 1995
click on a thumbnail below for a larger view (JPG: 640 x 480)
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image from the Dance Technology 1995 performance
Dance Tech 1994
click on a thumbnail below for a larger view (JPG: 640 x 480)
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images from the Dance Tech 1994
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