In 1991 at New York University, I began bringing computers into the my
dance composition class. When I became part-time faculty (at NYU in
1994), I guided the dance students (undergraduate) through movement
improvisations (including contact) which inspired them to create dances by
shifting back and forth between the computer and dance partner to extend
their composition ideas.
When I relocated to Vancouver, Canada in 1995, I used a similar approach
with the dance students at Simon Fraser University (learning LifeForms
combined with composition in the dance studio). The work was later
co-developed into an online course (Dancing in Cyberspace: Creating with
the Virtual Body). with Iris Garland.
As a research associate at Simon Fraser University, I also had several
opportunities (over a three year period) to conduct experiments using a
videoconferencing system to link dancers with musicians and actors at New
York University. A small group of dancers from Simon Fraser have continued
to work with me with on "Internet performances" which are now known as the
Cassandra Project.
I am now on faculty at University of California, Irvine and beginning to
work with dancers here on various aspects of multimedia (CD-ROM), sensor,
videoconferencing and motion capture technology. A strong foundation in
multimedia has already been established here through courses taught by
Mary Corey. We have started an internship program (involving 1
undergraduate and 3 graduate students) with industry to understand motion
caputure as an animation technique. From a practical perspective, the
dancers will have onsite experiences at the motion capture studio and see
how the technololgy in used in everyday work. The collaboration between
the motion capture studio and the dance students was initiated by one of
the dance students at UCI. Faculty efforts to develop the internship
program is the most recent committment between industry and the dance
department. This quarter we will concentrate on the impact of motion
capture in the creative process and conduct research into the area of
avatars as embodied representations in cyberspace. Our goal will be to
develop a animation episode using motion caputure to enliven the avatars in
3D space.
The dance students at UCI will continue to have courses in multimedia,
LifeForms, video and (soon), videoconferencing.
Best,
Lisa
=====================================
Lisa Naugle
Assistant Professor of Dance and Technology
University of California, Irvine
School of the Arts, Department of Dance
MAB 300
Irvine, California 92697-2775
email: lnaugle@uci.edu
tel: (949) 824-3209
fax: (949) 824-4563