Chicago Tribune: When University of Illinois music director John Toenjes and his dancers started toying around with incorporating iPads into performances, they couldn’t find an app they liked.
So they built their own.
Now, two years later, Toenjes and his team are ready to roll out version 2.0 of the app.
6 comments:
During Playground this year, I was the production and stage manager for a piece that told its story through binaural audio delivered through headphones and a smart phone. It was a struggle for us as we tried to find the appropriate way to deliver the content to the audience. The original plan for the piece was to create our own application so the entire show did not rely on a website or something like that. However, that plan ended about a day before the show went up and the app was not approved for the App Store. We then uploaded the file to Soundcloud and it actually worked pretty well. So we actually had the opposite situation of the University of Illinois. The larger point I think that this article addresses is that often times in theatre, the ideas are ahead of the technology, so there is either some catch-up to play or a creation of a new item.
I'm all for audience interaction, but reading this article, the only thing I can think of is the potential for the technology that the U of I dance company is using to be a distraction or an element that overpowers the design and performance of these shows. While I am not opposed to the idea of involving technology in performances, I am opposed to the inclusion of technology for technology's sake. As cool and futuristic as iPads and app development is, one cannot ignore the ability of iPads to hinder the movement of a dancer, or the lack of cost efficiency using them in place of other costume elements. If I had creative control over these sorts of productions, I'd simply bide my time until wearable technology was affordable and advanced enough to become a cohesive and fully manipulable element of my design, something that the iPad cannot currently do. In addition, I would also like to point out that this endeavor was funded by a supercomputing initiative, not an arts initiative. Call me critical, but I guess I'm just a skeptic.
This is such a cool application of technology in theater. I love that in theater we have come up with this umbrella term of media, and it can included projecting images, body scanning, and iPad apps. What I think is really taking this to the next level is the fact that the audience can not only interact with the performance in a new way, they will influence the story. It also turns into one of those things that you hope the technology is not just a spectacle. It can be very easy for a performance to become more of spectacle instead of a story in this implementations of media, which is that was their goal is good, otherwise not so much. From a manager point of view I would be so scared the entire time because so much rests on technology which can always not go as plan. I would be interested in talking to the managers on the show and see what kind of back up plans they have for different technology issues that could come up.
I feel like everyone is so concerned with using phones and iPads during performances that sometimes they don't stop to ask themselves whether or not it actually enhances or detracts from what they're trying to show. That isn't necessary relevant to this article, but I think it still needs to be said. That aside, I think it's interesting that so many people want to integrate phones and other personal technology into theater, because I always considered theater to be a medium free of things like that in order for the audience to better connect with the performers. I feel like if phones were more commonly used in live performances, it would start to be more common for people to use their phones in any performance regardless of whether or not it was part of the show. The culture of respect for the people on stage could start to break down as people get more used to having an outside piece of technology interact with them instead of being totally connected to the performers.
This sounds really cool, and reminded me of a similar interactive media technology in Japan where audiences in front of their own TV at home (instead of being at the live venue) are able to interact with the performance. By using an app on their phones, audiences who weren't able to get into the live venue are able to still feel involved in the performance through changing the lights and media effects. The thing that I like about this is that it is connecting audiences in front of the TV with the performance while the audiences at the live venue are still fully immersed in the show. When the audience members get to make a choice that will impact their experience, the performance all of a sudden becomes a lot more unique and personal. It's really cool how the app in this article allows the audience to do more than just changing the lights/sound, but actually affect the way the dance moves forward. It'll definitely be a worthwhile and fun challenge especially for the stage managers and actors working on this performance. I wish this article went more into details as to how that will actually work since I probably won't get to experience it. I would definitely go see a performance like this if I get the chance to someday.
While I think working to integrate new technology into unconventional or atypical performance mediums is both an admirable and necessary undertaking, there is something about the aesthetic of the dancers wielding iPads that seems off. This seems to ride that fine line between technology - especially media - overwhelming a performance, instead of boosting and amplifying the work of those onstage. In the image accompanying the article, the fact that there were performers onstage was almost easy to overlook. Furthermore, equipping the audience with voting capabilities might have some occasional purpose, but it also removes the performers' ability to surprise the audience. In asking the audience to make choices about a performance in a medium they might not be familiar with, the success of the show is risked. Bearing all this in mind, this is being researched and developed at an educational institution, and while I do not believe this has much practical use, it is nonetheless an important exploration.
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