Cycle 1: Depth Sensor and Choreography

Regarding the cyclical projects for the rest of the semester, my goal is to create video projection in Isadora to support my MFA thesis project which will be presented in February 2025. I am choreographing a group ensemble piece that is centered upon the idea of intercultural encounters. I currently am viewing the piece as a moving palimpsest which refers to a manuscript where text has been effaced and rubbed out to write new text. This allows for ghosts or hauntings of previous text to be seen and witnessed alongside something new. Metaphorically, this reads to me as intercultural encounters where people’s life experiences intersect, conflict, merge, and bubble.  

I have been obsessed with the idea of a moving projection that tracks slow subtle movement and wanted to try this in cycle 1. I initially had a lot of ideas for the video that I wanted to project from a top-down projector. It ranged from textural video to gestures to excerpts of my dancers moving in the space. Due to the short amount of time that we had for cycle 1, I chose to focus primarily on developing a patch in Isadora that utilized a depth sensor as a form of tracking. Regarding the video that was projected, I ended up working with a clip of plastic overhang waving in the wind. In Taiwan, these rows and rows of plastic are utilized as an outdoor car cover or for an outdoor swimming pool.  

I spent a large chunk of my time playing with video effects. I knew that I wanted to abstract the image and desired to create a sort of otherworldly feel from the projection. Other time was spent figuring out how to use a depth sensor and have the projection track a body in space. The exploration started with a simple shape tracking to eventually having the whole projection track a body. Below is a video of the different scenes that I created. 

Choreographically, I imagine that the sensor will be tracking dancers from the top (bird’s eye view), so focusing primarily on their heads as they moving in the space. I have been working on a section of choreography that draws from ideas of processions. This emerges from my memories of watching temple processions in the streets of Taiwan but take a more hybrid creature approach. The video below is an example of what this looks like at this moment in the creative process 

In our feedback session, I was glad to hear that the abstraction of the video was landing with viewers. I found it fascinating that it felt kind of microscopic to people and was still tethered to ideas and aesthetics of this world. This reframing was very helpful for me to think about the intentional hybridity that I want to play with aesthetically. I really appreciate the feedback on softening the edges of the projection and playing with how color might fade in, grow, and fade out throughout. Looking towards cycle 2, my goals include taking the depth sensor and projection into the Barnett Theatre and seeing what it actually looks like from a top-down perspective, while still continuing to adjust the video effects. In cycle 2, I think it might be helpful to share a performance of this so that I can see what the full effect truly is in space with sound, projection, and dance. 



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