Tuesday, November 04, 2014
lesia trubat's ballet shoes electronically trace the movements of dancers
www.designboom.com: the concept of lesia trubat‘s ‘E-traces’ is based in capturing dance movements and transforming them into visual sensations through the use of new technologies. in order to do so, she focused her attention towards the pointe shoes of ballerinas. after observing the motions of their bodies as they glide and pirouette, she realized that through contact with the ground, a lilypad arduino microcontroller board could record the pressure and actions of their feet and send the signal to an electronic device.
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11 comments:
These could make very interesting media incorporated dance pieces in the future. I think it's a very innovative use of technology. I'd be interested in seeing if there was a way to combine this technology with something like Stagewrite (a blocking software used by directors and choreographers) to do blocking for a production. I don't think they would be able to mash together right now but the right people with the right goal could make this work in really great ways. It could be very helpful to Stage Managers and Dance Captains to help maintain a show.
I looked at the video and it looked cool having just the one person moving, I'd be interested to see what could be created by having a full company use this technology.
These could add so many new advancements in dance and movement studies, as well as integrate media into some performances, kind of what we do here for dancelight, but on a whole new level. This technology definitely has potential to do so much more and be adapted into many different studies, maybe even into the medical field with ticks and twitches or maybe even physical rehab for learning how to walk after a devastating injury. To me, the possibilities and applications are endless.
I was expecting that the shoes would be some kind of In-The-Space motion tracking technology, that could virtually follow dancers for lighting purposes. The Idea of having the tracking take place through the pressure they put on the bottoms of their feet isn't something I had ever thought of. Other than to create images of swipes and sweeps across a screen, I am not entirely sure how this is useful unless it could be hooked up to some kind of show control program. If it could be used for cue-on-beat that would be cool.
This is so beautiful. I would love to see more information about this and how this can be used to make more art. Would be so interested in what could happen if someone truly attached this to the dancers' entire body to really track the movement while they're dancing from head to toe, right down to the tips of their fingers. Ballet is such an incredible sport and it deserves to be tracked and expanded as an art form. I loved this video but it could go so much farther. Painting with your body, what a concept.
I can think of so many ways that this could be turned into something used for a multitude of sports and it could really and truly be something I'd love to have in the realm of art.
The other idea that this brought up for me would be that it would be amazing to use as a teaching device in a dance class. If the instructors should had something like this in them, it could be laid out on the floor for others to follow. Talk about synchronization.
When I read the title for this article, I assumed that this invention would be for the purpose of analyzing a dancer's movements and being able to improve the dancer's ability. But the second I watched the video, I realized that this could (and should) be used for artistic purposes. People previously brought up using it for a media element in shows, and I completely agree, but also it could be used as art out of the context of theater. Imagine an art gallery of these dancer's movements. These pieces have so much energy and they transfer to paper perfectly. That would make an incredible exhibit.
As soon as I began watching this video, I wondered what it would be like if ballet dancers dipped their feet in paint and then danced across a blank canvas. These shoes are basically achieving this electronically, which is both really cool and creates way less of a mess. I think it would be useful to see multiple dancers wearing these shoes and dancing at once. I think in order for this to work, each dancer's shoes would have to generate a different color. While I can definitely see this type of technology being used in theater, I think this technology can apply to almost any art form. What if the same technology was applied to a musicians hand while playing string instruments? The results can be very beautiful and groundbreaking. I hope this technology continues to advance and become even more specific and adaptable to varying art forms.
Ballet is a dying dance form in my opinion. People often view it as boring to watch or very predictable. Technology and ballet is the perfect combination and I'm surprised its hasn't been explored prior. Having the sensors in the shoes provides the dancer to record and review their performance to potentially improve it. Painting pictures though dance is something that if explored physically, but being able to do this digitally and printing the physical image is amazing. To be able to produce an image though movement would be fascinating for me and I would love to test a technology like this out.
This would be incredibly exciting to see performed live. To me, the strokes of the ballerina's feet represented behind her would make a much more interesting piece than having them squashed on top of her as she moved. There are so many ways this new technology can be experimented with to develop this dance form in new and innovative ways. Wouldn't it be awesome to have a certain color for each ballerina, and watch a production of Swan Lake with the media of the dancer's feet projected behind them? The strokes themselves remind me of sand art because of their fluidity, and the way they seem to fade off the screen as if someone has brushed them off with the side of their hand. I hope the creators of these shoes market their product well enough to have it circulate and integrate into ballet.
I thought this was really beautiful. It kind of reminds me of when people dance with bottles of paint and so you can see the movement of their arms as they dance. Like Chris, I had thought this traced all movement of the dancer's feet, not just when in contact with the ground. But I still think it's really cool and I love how the strokes are like brush stroke of ink. I think it's been said that dance is like painting in air or something along those lines and this is a great way to make that expression true. Though this all looks beautiful an graceful, when you think about it, some of the movements were crazy and twisted, it's fascinating to see that side of ballet and a ballerina's feet!
This was so much less interesting than I thought it was going to be. When I first read the title of the video I had an image in my mind of the floor visually being marked by the movements of the dancer, but instead they were just incorporated into the video which made the whole thing feel a little cheesy and not very interesting. I think this technology would benefit from real-time visual representation/ If the dancers movements were somehow projected or visually marked in some way on the floor while she was dancing, then there would be an intriguing new level of interaction with the architecture and and artistic visual representation that could never be created again.
This is really innovative and yet again just amazing of what people will create or think of.
First I wonder if the shoes would have any health benefit somewhere? Could you use them to figure out appropriate pressure for someone walking or learning how to walk again after a tragic accident. Pressure in sports? Not sure if that does anything for anything but just asking the question.
I do think it be interesting to work with the dancer and her movement to music through the pressure points or lighting effects. There are many different avenues this information could go to. Used in conjunction of a media/lighting/sound designers to create an entire atmosphere of art.
Saying all that, the video was hard for me to follow, with the swooping lines. I did not follow her dancing and the swooping lines, there was not correlation between the two for me.
Yet again, amazed by the creative gene that is inside of people.
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