Pixel, an augmented reality performance created by French performance art collective Adrien M / Claire B Company, is an incredible visual display that combines talented dancers with an unforgettable light show. Developed in cooperation with hip-hop choreographer Cie Kafig, the 70-minute performance debuted in November 2014 at Maison des Arts Creteil.

The show is a truly innovative melding of the physical and the virtual. As seen in the three-minute highlights video above, the dancers interact with the light projected onto the stage. They embrace it, avoid it, move with it, and walk on the projected shapes as though they were solid ground.

The performance is a marriage of physical and technical expertise. Because the projected light forms are pre-set, the dancers’ movements have to be precise to sync their movements to the projections. The creators describe the seriously impressive show as “a work on illusion combining energy and poetry, fiction and technical achievement, hip hop and circus.”

The post Light + Movement: A Dance With Projected Light Pixels first appeared on Gajitz.

The movements of ballerinas are like the graceful brush strokes of a watercolor artist. They are flowy, light, and far more complicated than they look. Designer Lesia Trubat has developed a way to capture those brush strokes of movement by outfitting pointe shoes with electronics and connecting them to a proprietary app. She calls the system Electronic Traces, or E-Traces.

A Lilypad Arduino microcontroller board attached to the bottom of each shoe records the pressure and movements of the feet and sends the information to a mobile device.

From there, the dancer can see their foot movements drawn out on the screen in graphics. They can view the movements as a video and even print out extracted images.

The movement data can be used to track dancer’s progress in learning a particular routine, compare their moves with those of other dancers, and make corrections to foot placement.

Trubat feels that the technology could be used for dance styles other than ballet and would be particularly helpful to those who are just learning or who are self-teaching.

The post Wired Ballet Shoes Trace Movements to Make Visual Art first appeared on Gajitz.

We tend to think of prostheses as objects that help return function to a disabled person (or animal), but two McGill University PhD candidates have thought of an entirely new way to use them. Joseph Mallock and Ian Hattwick turn 3D printed virtual limbs into fascinating musical instruments.

The prostheses are worn by dancers who perform with the objects, either wearing them or holding them. Every time one of the objects is touched, or whenever the dancer moves, the prosthetic device makes beautiful music. The music is created using sensors and wireless data transceivers; whenever the objects are touched or moved, the data is run through software and synthesized into music.

Because the dancers can wear or remove the prostheses at will, they have the freedom to create wonderfully complex and novel performances. The artificial objects become a part of the dancers’ bodies for a short time, making them look something like graceful aliens who have come to bring us their otherworldly music.

The post Magical 3D Printed Prosthetics Make Human Instruments first appeared on Gajitz.