MOTION-SENSING MUSIC: ARTISTIC AND TECHNICAL CHALLENGES IN TWO WORKS FOR DANCE
Todd Winkler · University of Michigan Library Repository · 1998
David Rokeby's Very Nervous System (VNS), offers a sophisticated level of computer control for detecting the accurate speed and location of dancers on stage. The VNS, coupled with software written in Opcode’s Max, is used in two recent dance productions in which music is produced by dancers’ movements. Dark Around the Edges, a collaboration with Walter Ferrero, uses mechanical motion to create rhythms and musical phrases. In Songs for the Body Electric, choreographer Gerry Girouard's fluid gestures influence compositional algorithms and signal processing parameters. Video projections and lighting changes also generate sound in counterpoint with the dance.