In a message dated 5/8/98 3:33:45 AM, Johannes Birringer wrote:
>I went to see Yacov's dance concert, and - stunningly - the piece
>(Electrical Mask) that had triggered the whole form/content debate here,
>well, it had been removed from the program (some computer or engineering
>trouble). It was a beautiful concert, anyway, and the audience wasn't even
>made aware that in one of the works the "electronic dance floor" (with
>sensor devices linked to Midi sound) was utilized.
***Please let us know who engineered this "electronic dance floor", what/where
was this performance, and how we might have the opportunity contact them. We
are always interested in like-minded projects, and potential for
collaboration.
>One might ask of course why we then need an interactive design platform,
since the
>same dance piece perhaps could be done in analog or traditional mixed media
>parameters.
*** The conclusion we've reached is that, if it can be made economical and
widely availble, the IDEAL benefit from interactive dance/music technologies
is to the PLAYERs (dancers) themselves PRIMARILY, and only SECONDARY interst
to viewers/listeners. An intelligently/precisely composed/sequenced and
choreographed/performed piece could conceivably "fake" almost any truly
interactive system, in other words even for an improvisational piece where the
dancer(s) generate music by their movements, the dancers WILL know, but how
can anyone else really KNOW it's interactive??
***Thus, while initially beginning from the performance realm in our
interactive dance/music system development seven years ago, by four years ago
we realized, let's try to make this available to the public at large so they
can have the direct BENEFIT, namely, "I'm effortlessly creating real music and
cool visual media responses just by my body." That's where the euphoria is,
where the technology serves the whim of our creative gesture as if by magic.
***We ARE planning stage performance(s) of our interactive platform use as
well, but leading into mixed venues of concert/webcasting/home/linked location
based entertainment sites for cross-venue jamming (via such as Intel's
intercast, etc.), also broadcast/simulcast music videos and performances
announcing /leading into where the public can go try it themselves (at local
theme parks, malls, as it rolls out commercially.)
***By the way, one way you can proove it's NOT "faked" is with animals - we've
had some fun with dogs, cats, and birds, and have considered integrating these
into concert venues (at least for a fun moment or two). We also are
considering some very do-able possibilities for dolphins, although we're not
too happy about the captivity aspect so it's more a technical potential.
David Clark, CEO
Dance Media, Inc.
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