Dance technology

The terms dance technology and Dance and Technology refer to application of modern information technology in activities related to dance: in dance education, ^[1] choreography,^[2] performance, and research.^[3]

Dance education

In education, dance technology includes various advanced media, such as video, interactive computer programs and internet.^[1], as well as training in the use of modern technologies for dance creation.^{[4] [5]}

Dance design

Dance recording and computer choreography

One of the earliest uses of computers for dance were carried out in 1960s at the University of Pittsburgh, where the choreographic process was codified and manipulated by computer, although the results were not published.^[3]

In 1970s there were several attempts to computerize the Labanotation and later the Benesh notation. These attempts naturally evolved into attempts to translate the symbolic notations into computer models of the moving human body and further to computer-assisted creation of choreographies.^[3]

Dance performance

Dance technology allows for innovative art forms, such as collaborative network performances^[2] and The Dance Technology Project, Atlanta Ballet and Georgia Institute of Technology, with its first performance, "Non Sequitur,? of a ballerina dancing with a computer animated "virtual" dancer was shown on CNN's Future Watch program, May of 1994.^[6]

Integration of live dance performance with dance environment (sound, lighting) was pioneered by Mark Coniglio, whose 1989 MidiDancer measured the angular change at several joints on the dancer's body and used the measurements to control music.

Artists

• Merce Cunningham
• Susan Kozel
• Suguru Goto
• Marlon Barrios Solano
• John D. Mitchell
• Bebe Miller
• Troika Ranch
• Chunky Move
• Palindrome
• Jamie Jewett
• Boris Willis
• Julie Cruse
• Arthur Elsenaar
• Ashley Friend
• Johannes Birringer
• Lucia Valentin
• Tim Glenn
• Yacov Sharir

Research

IDAT

Exploration of innovative approaches to harness modern technologies in dance has been reported at the International Dance and Technology Conference. It was held at the following locations:^[7][8]

• The University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1992
• Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada, 1993
• York University, Toronto, Canada, 1995 (Proceedings: ISBN 1883034019)
• Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, 1999.

See also

• Digital theatre

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Dance Teaching Methods and Curriculum Design", by Gayle Kassing, Danielle Mary Jay, p. 21
2. ^ ^{a b} "Leaping into Dance Technology", Jeffrey Bary, Connect: Information Technology at NYU, Fall 2002
3. ^ ^{a b c} Dance Technology Current Applications and Future Trends, Judith A. Gray (ed.), 1989, ISBN 0883144298
4. ^ "Technology", part of the curriculum of the department of dance, Wayne State University
5. ^ Doug Risner, Jon Anderson, "Digital Dance Literacy: an integrated dance technology curriculum pilot project", Research in Dance Education, Volume 9, Number 2, June 2008 , pp. 113-128(16)
6. ^ "The Dance Technology Project"
7. ^ IDAT-99
8. ^ " Computer Nerds Meet Tutus: A Pas de Deux for Dancers and Technology", The New York Times, March 3, 1999

Further reading

• iDance, by Emily Macel, Dance Magazine, December 2007.