There are visual effects that are truly stunning, says Amanda
Lester of the Atlanta Ballet. There's a 15-foot virtual dancer who is at
times made of fire, at others made of water. And the live dancers actually
interact with the virtual dancer.
eorgia Tech and the Atlanta Ballet. It's not the most obvious pairing, but
when it comes to merging art with technology, these two are a match made
in heaven.DanceTechnology, the child of that marriage, is a project using the latest in motion-capture technology to put an Information Age-spin on a very old genre. Under the direction of Tech's Interactive Media Technology Center (IMTC) and renowned New York cho reographer David Parsons, DanceTech has progressed beyond its beginnings and could be on its way to creating a new form of dance.
The idea behind DanceTech is to use Motion Interactive (MINT), a motion-capture software designed at Tech, to record the movements of a human dancer and use that data to create a virtual dancer that shares the stage with its carbon-based counterparts. Op tical tracking and magnetic systems help make the movements of the model more realistic.
Motion analysis eliminates the guesswork, says IMTC Director Michael Sinclair. It allows you to see exact movement from any angle. The technology can be used in what we call a choreographer's electronic sketch book, where the choreographer could create a production by specifying a series of dance motions that would be stored in an electronic library.
"It's good for scientists and for artists alike to see each other's worlds," Parsons says. "I was pleasantly surprised at the enthusiasm, the stamina and the drive of the Georgia Tech researchers involved on this project."
The brainchild of past Tech Center for the Arts Director Paul Ackerman and current Director David Asbell, then of the Atlanta Ballet, DanceTech's early performances involved a hologram projected on the stage, but Time Piece, playing Aug. 1 at the Atlanta Civic Center as part of the Olympic Arts Festival, features much more.
There are visual effects that are truly stunning, says Amanda
Lester of the Atlanta Ballet. There's a 15-foot virtual dancer who is at
times made of fire, at others made of water. And the live dancers actually
interact with the virtual dancer.
Another highlight is the images projected onto the bodies of the live dancers themselves. For example, Time Piece depicts the evolution of mankind, and at points fire will be projected onto the dancers bodies to depict the elementsss discovery. At other times, cogs and wheels will appear to signal the dawn of the Industrial Age.
DanceTech has done quite a bit of evolving itself in its two-year existence, and the future holds much more promise. We certainly hope we can continue this collaboration with Georgia Tech, Lester says. It's been very positive so far.