Remote Dance Performances
Shortly after the acquisition of the University of Michigan’s first motion capture system faculty and students began exploring its use for the performing arts. One such project involved two dancers who coordinated their performances remotely. With one dancer performing in the MIDEN and the other in the Video Studio they effectively created a complete performance. The MIDEN performer wore our motion capture suit and had their point cloud (visualization of just her joints) streamed to the Video Studio where the other dancer was performing.
Another project related to remote performances involved a faculty member from the school of music who specialized in jazz compositions. He conducted a collection of performers remotely using methods similar to the dancers above. One unique challenge was the expressiveness and articulation of the composers hands and face. To solve this we placed additional markers on his face and hands so the remote musicians could identify his facial expressions and hand poses.