Happy new year! Since my last post, I’ve been contacting choreographers who I’d like to work with, meeting people and talking about the project. Finding the right person has taken longer than I’d expected but I think it’s worth the extra time, and I’ve had some interesting conversations along the way! I’m learning a lot about dance and performance, and at the same time, having to question my original ideas. It’s a valuable process.

I’m starting to think about how the resulting animations might look. One of the interesting things about using motion capture is that the forms resulting from the capture are very basic ‘skeletons’, in which most of the outward physical attributes of the performer have been stripped away, leaving little more than pure movement. This skeleton can then be used as a vehicle for any outward form. It’s like going beyond nakedness – gender, race, and age are effectively removed.

Here are two sketches in which I’ve tried to ‘clothe’ the skeleton in fairly abstract forms, with the idea of loosely describing just the movement. I’m using digital marks which refer to drawing and painting – quick strokes which deviate from the bounds of the performer’s body but accumulate over time to give a good sense of the dance.

Thanks to the National University of Singapore for the original motion data!