mapping sounds to shape…
…independently of my choreographic process and movement production of course.
Also, conditioning sensor data adds latency to a system thereby introducing interesting notions of trace and ephemerality. What does it mean that the system works less efficiently while tapping into my theoretical inquiry more accurately?
I want to improvise movement while wearing sensors… from here track sensor data and produce visual output that displays the probability of different types of movement within my improvisational tendencies based on sensor readings of my performance. Perhaps this could work from live video tracking as well.
Sitting in the eTextiles workshop and thinking of a new project…
I wonder if I couldn’t sew conductive thread through my skin in addition to using internal heat sensors and other semi-internal sensors to send motion information to my Max patches. Following this I could create some type of difference patch between this data and live video feed motion capture data. Using the information from this difference patch I could think about the difference between our movements and those that are caught in video feeds in today’s mediatized society. How is the motion capture information based directly on my body different from that captured by the camera? Using the difference in gravitational center or something of the sort I could produce sound output…or better yet some type of physical feedback to the dancer or audience.
Thinking about Stelarc’s “Fractal Flesh” when thinking of the physical sensor based tracking and feedback.
I am currently in the midst of a week-long intensive Max workshop during the day and a week of intensive rehearsals for my upcoming show at night. The physical contrast between these two intensives is strikingly different and seems to feed my choreographic impulse. Sitting in a chair and staring at a computer screen all day I feel myself cramp up physically as my brain works on overdrive…or freeze frame. After sitting for too long I stop thinking clearly about patch cords and objects and I have an out of body experience. The programming process slows down and I simply stare at my screen for long periods of time without making any progress, or understanding anything. It is as though my brain is taking freeze frame shots of the screen and I am unable to make the program move. My physical immobility translates onto the computer program and all parts are stuck. Interestingly enough, I have random impulses to move when I enter this state and am pushed to do so, even if only mentally. The overwhelming nature of the programming encourages physical movement, but only after stopping it. In the evening I indulge these impulses and the material flows. Unfortunately, there is no opposite effect. Moving does not encourage sitting in front of a computer screen. I wonder if my creative exercises of last night will inspire technical impulse today? Somehow I am beginning to doubt it.
Choreographically thinking on….Kinks. Contort. Bend. Still. Slow. Fast. Uncontrolled. Push. Hold back. Push forward.
Choreographically indulging in….taking old material that was never TRULY worked through or finished and pushing it, connecting it and changing it.
Working with a new dancer…perhaps one of the more exciting joys in the process…and becoming more and more thrilled by the possibilities that this provides.
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