Dance Space: An Interactive Video Interface
Symposium:
Session Title:
- New Interfaces for Dance
Presentation Title:
- Dance Space: An Interactive Video Interface
Presenter(s):
Abstract:
In dance, we have conducted research towards musical and graphical augmentation of human movement. We have built DanceSpace: a stage in which music and graphics are generated on the fly by the dancer’s movements. A small set of musical instruments is virtually attached to the dancer’s body and generates a melodic soundtrack in tonal accordance with a soft background musical piece. Meanwhile, the performer projects graphics onto a large back screen using the body as a paint brush. In this context, the computer’s role is that of an assistant choreographer: the system is able to improvise a soundtrack and a visual accompaniment while the performer is creating or rehearsing a piece using their body as the interface. This is a great advantage when the choreographer wishes to create a dance performance based on the pure expression of body movements, and not by following a pre-chosen musical score.