Projecting Performance: Interrelationships between performance and technology, dancer and operator
Primary tabs
Grant Holder:
Dr Sita Popat
Projecting Performance was a collaboration between performance academics from the School of Performance & Cultural Industries and digital technologists from KMA Creative Technology Ltd. The project focused on the choreographic and scenographic exchange between dancers and projected digital images within a theatrical context. It questioned processes of performance and perceived boundaries between performers and technologists, and it promoted dialogues via an iterative cycle of creative development. The research addressed these issues at different levels through its key research questions:
- What defines the relationships between the performer-dancer, the projected iimage and the performer-operator?
- What are the methodologies for the engagement of performance academics and digital technologists in effective collaborative research?
Projected digital images are widely employed in theatrical productions today, but their use is frequently governed either by pre-recorded footage with the performer as strictly-timed soloist, or through computer-controlled interactions where the performer needs to trigger the technology.
This project investigated a new set of interrelationships between performer, projection and technical operator, where the operator also becomes a ‘performer’ both controlling and being spontaneously present in the digital image on stage. The stage-performer interacts with the off-stage operator, who simultaneously sees, controls and 'performs' the projected image in the stage 'picture'. The expressive nature of the digital image concentrates the quality of the operator's movement through abstract forms that are choreographed in partnership with the stage performer.
Work that directly integrates performance and technologist in both process and performance is still rare. Collaborative methods that facilitate such integration deserve further exploration for the combined benefit of both academic and professional communities. Through this research we were seeking to identify the underlying processes of our work as collaborators from the fields of performance and new technologies, within the context of a performance research laboratory. How do our working practices complement each other, and where do we need to find alternative approaches?
This research project has critical implications for relationships between humans and technology in 21st century choreography and scenography. The developing dialogue between performance and technology has further exposed methodologies for collaborative research.
| Project start date: 2006-09 | Project end date: 2008-01 |
Subject domains:
| Methods used | Category |
|---|---|
| Interface design | Data publishing and dissemination |
Funding sources:
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Content types created:
Moving Image
Software tools used:
Macromedia Director, Max/MSP and Jitter
Digital resource created:
This project is primarily about new applications of digital resources, rather than the creation of new digital resources. The project began with the use of Macromedia Director plus a third-party plug-in to create digital 'sprites'. These were programmed using Newtonian physics and swarming behaviours to give a particular quality of movement. The sprites were front-projected onto a downstage gauze, with the performers standing upstage (behind) the gauze. The operator sat in front of the stage and facing it, so he/she could see the "stage picture" and be seen by the performer. At first the operator controlled the sprites using a computer mouse. An early innovation was the replacement of the mouse with the graphics tablet and pen as the input device. This enabled a more fluid gestural input commensurate with the role of the operator as dancer/performer. A midi-interface board enabled the sprites' parameters to be easily manipulated in real-time performance. The transition to Max/MSP/Jitter as the programming environment enabled more flexibility in the characteristics of the sprites' movements. We used an infrared camera of the type usually placed on the front of NATO jets to seek out bomb targets, but instead we sensed performers' body-heat and used that to control the spatial arrangements of the sprites. The introduction of Wii-motes and e-Beam enabled other types of gestural input for both operators and performers. The innovation in terms of digital resources lay in the impact on the operator's role and body-movement in performance, which resulted from the use of different programming environments (via the sprites' inherent behaviours) and the use of different input devices that encouraged gestural motion and embodied experiences of "performing" the operation of the technology. For more information, see our published articles.
Publications:
Palmer, S.; Popat, S. “Embodied Interfaces: Dancing with Digital Sprites.” Digital Creativity (in press, 2008)
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “Dancing Robots and Digitised Spaces.” Keynote presentation given as part of the DigArt Symposium 2008, Aalborg University, Denmark, March 2008.
Palmer, S.; Popat, S. “Dancing in the Streets: The Sensuous Manifold as a Concept for Designing Experience.” International Journal of Performance Arts & Digital Media 2(3) (2007): 297-314
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “Projecting Performance: Embodied Technologies for Operator and Performer.” Paper presented as part of the Performance Studies International #13 conference, New York, USA, November 2007.
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “‘A Full Innocence’: The Paradox of Stillness in Movement.” Paper presented as part of the Computers in Art & Design Education Conference, Perth, Australia, September 2007.
Palmer, S.; Popat, S. “Projecting Performance.” Paper/workshop presented as part of the Prague Quadrennial, Prague, Czech Republic, June 2007.
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “Revealing the Wizard of Oz: Interrelationships between performer-dancer, performer-operator and digital sprite.” Paper presented as part of the Re-Thinking Practice and Theory Conference, CORD / SDHS, Paris, France, June 2007.
Palmer, S. “A Place to Play - Experimentation and Interactions Between Technology and Performance.” In The Potentials of Spaces : International Scenography and Performance for the 21st Century, edited by C. A White & A. Oddey, 105-118. Bristol: Intellect Books, 2006.
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “Projecting Performance.” Paper presented as part of Engage HCI: The 1st International Symposium on Culture, Creativity and Interaction Design, Queen Mary’s University, London, September 2006.
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “Dancing Sprites and Digitised Spaces: A collaborative project in digital performance.” Paper presented as part of the 2nd International Conference for Digital Technologies & Performance Arts, Doncaster, UK, June 2006.
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “Creating Common Ground: Dialogues Between Performance and Digital Technologies.” International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 1(1) (2005): 47-65.
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “Dancing Robots and Digitised Spaces.” Keynote presentation given as part of the DigArt Symposium 2008, Aalborg University, Denmark, March 2008.
Palmer, S.; Popat, S. “Dancing in the Streets: The Sensuous Manifold as a Concept for Designing Experience.” International Journal of Performance Arts & Digital Media 2(3) (2007): 297-314
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “Projecting Performance: Embodied Technologies for Operator and Performer.” Paper presented as part of the Performance Studies International #13 conference, New York, USA, November 2007.
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “‘A Full Innocence’: The Paradox of Stillness in Movement.” Paper presented as part of the Computers in Art & Design Education Conference, Perth, Australia, September 2007.
Palmer, S.; Popat, S. “Projecting Performance.” Paper/workshop presented as part of the Prague Quadrennial, Prague, Czech Republic, June 2007.
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “Revealing the Wizard of Oz: Interrelationships between performer-dancer, performer-operator and digital sprite.” Paper presented as part of the Re-Thinking Practice and Theory Conference, CORD / SDHS, Paris, France, June 2007.
Palmer, S. “A Place to Play - Experimentation and Interactions Between Technology and Performance.” In The Potentials of Spaces : International Scenography and Performance for the 21st Century, edited by C. A White & A. Oddey, 105-118. Bristol: Intellect Books, 2006.
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “Projecting Performance.” Paper presented as part of Engage HCI: The 1st International Symposium on Culture, Creativity and Interaction Design, Queen Mary’s University, London, September 2006.
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “Dancing Sprites and Digitised Spaces: A collaborative project in digital performance.” Paper presented as part of the 2nd International Conference for Digital Technologies & Performance Arts, Doncaster, UK, June 2006.
Popat, S.; Palmer, S. “Creating Common Ground: Dialogues Between Performance and Digital Technologies.” International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 1(1) (2005): 47-65.
Institutions affiliated with this project:
| UK HE institutions involved: |
|---|
| University of Leeds |
| UK HE institutions involved: |
|---|
| KMA Creative Technologies Ltd |
| York |
| UK |
Project staff and expertise:
| Principal staff member: | Dr Sita Popat; Mr Scott Palmer |
|---|---|
| Other staff: | |
| External expertise: |
| Metadata on this arts-humanities.net record | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) of record | Sita Popat |
| Title | Projecting Performance: Interrelationships between performance and technology, dancer and operator |
| Record created | 2008-03-19 |
| Record updated | 2011-05-11 16:44 |
| URL of record | http://www.arts-humanities.net/node/2266 |
| Citation of record | Sita Popat: Projecting Performance: Interrelationships between performance and technology, dancer and operator. <http://www.arts-humanities.net/node/2266> created: 2008-03-19, last updated 2011-05-11 16:44 |