Author Archives: jedibunny

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The Video and Its Double

I expect to watch video in almost every situation in my daily life, whether it’s CNN on my TV, YouTube on my computer, or home movies on my cel phone. Not to mention, video in the back seat of cabs, at the dentist and in the elevator. The only place I can get away from video is in the shower, but luckily, my NY apartment is too small to support a plasma screen in the commode. So it’s no surprise that I, like many cultural consumers, am very open to the use of video in the theater.

Now this is a tricky thing: Just because live audiences are used to seeing movie-like bits in a show, it doesn’t mean we want to be bombarded with flashing lights and explosive images that don’t mean anything to the piece or obscure the work of the human performers. I pay for an blended experience, not a seizure.

Last year, during the 2008 Tony Awards season, I was assigned by Studio 360 to do a segment on the use of video in the Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George. The show was nominated in the best scenic design category, which for the first time, recognized video projection as an integral part of the storytelling. Over a cranky ISDN line to London, I spoke with David Farley, the show’s set and costume designer, and Timothy Bird of KnifeEdge Creative Network, who designed the digital imaging. In addition, I visited the Manhattan studio of video designer, Dustin O’Neill, of Fountainhead Design Group, who works with musicals and operas. (Dustin did not work on Sunday in the Park.)

In both interviews, the designers discussed the technical and aesthetic challenges of how projected images support the live performances of actors and musicians. And Dustin pointed out how video can interact with human players in real time. You can listen to the segment here:

For the record, Sunday in the Park with George did not win the 2008 Tony for scenic design. Instead, South Pacific took home the prize.

When I did this story, I wound up with extra material from Dustin O’Neill which I’d planned to include on the web. But since deadlines usually creep up on you too fast and online real estate is sometimes wanting, I was not able to post this stuff then. So, back from the archives, the video below contains a further sampling of Dustin’s comments on his process and excerpts of his work.

– Jocelyn

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Tapping into the Tech

We know that tap dancers create their own percussive soundtrack when they perform. Back in the eighties, pioneering choreographer, teacher and composer, Alfred Desio, took this a step further.

Desio was a veteran Broadway performer, having appeared in original productions of West Side Story, Fiddler On the Roof, Man of La Mancha, Zorba the Greek, and many others, before settling in Los Angeles at USC to teach. He trained with Jerome Robbins and worked with Joseph Pilates, inventor of the now ubiquitous Pilates Technique offered at many a fitness studio across the country. Desio and his wife, Louise Reichlin founded Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers, a non-profit dance organization composed of two professional companies, Louise Reichlin & Dancers (modern) and Zapped Taps™/Alfred Desio (tap).

Desio made a splash with the 1982 debut of Tap-Tronics™, a system where tap dancers would be able to compose music and control audio effects with their feet. We’ve got all kinds of permutations of this idea today, with these tiny motion sensors, Wi-fi and digital synthesis. But when Desio invented this method of hooking choreography up to electronics, the technology was still really bulky, involving radio transmitters and tangled wires everywhere. So one might think this was a clunky notion, tethering a dancer to this kind of equipment.

Desio managed to overcome those limitations and devise a way for the tap dancer to create a fully realized score live and in the moment. Microphones were embedded in the dancers shoes, and wired to a portable transmitter. Receivers picked up the tap sounds and fed them through synthesizers, effects pedals, drum machines and vocoders. The music would modulate or change tempo with the muscles, pressure & rhythm of the body. If you watch this video about Alfred Desio, you’ll see that there was nothing heavy or dragging about his invention. For Desio, Tap-Tronics was all about heightening the pleasure of his art.

Sadly, Alfred Desio, the Electronic Tap Dancer, passed away on Valentine’s Day in 2007, at the age of 74. Tributes and more information about his career and legacy are maintained by L.A. C & D at http://www.lachoreographersanddancers.org/p3a_obit.html.

– Jocelyn

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A Chat with Downtown Piano Queen, Kathy Supove

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This week I visited with pianist, Kathy Supove, who commands the 88 keys like nobody’s business. For years, Kathy’s virtuosic keyboard skills have been put to work by contemporary composers working in an interactive performance environment.

In her bio, Kathy’s Exploding Piano Series is described as a “multimedia experience using electronics, theatrical elements, vocal rants, performance art, staging, and collaboration with artists from other disciplines…her Exploding Piano concerts almost always have original monologues and theatrical sketches surrounding the pieces.”

With her dramatic and energetic playing as a centerpiece (and her trademark flaming red bob), Kathy crushes the old definition of a piano recital under her shiny boots. So I asked her point of view on working with electronics and various media in her shows.

Listen to Kathy’s comments and excerpts of her music here:

If you’re curious, the controller called the monome that Kathy mentions is demonstrated in this clip:

You can visit Kathy Supove on her MySpace page.

– Jocelyn

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Dare to Go Bare

I’m considering another tattoo, so I’ve been spending some idle time looking at design and ink, wondering if a new tat will prove to be a permanent mark of pride or folly. But in my wanderings, I came across something called Bare Interactive Ink Technology – a temporary “electronic” tattoo, if you will. Imagine painting your body with this special conductive ink, and all of your movements could interact with electronic devices around you.

What? Could I just wave my dragon tattoo in the air to turn the TV on and off?

Well, not quite. Bare was developed by Bibi Nelson, Matt Johnson, Isabel Lizardi & Becky Pilditch from the department of industrial design engineering at the Royal College of Art. As described on the website, Yanko Design, Bare is:

“…this new parasitic technology being explored where you apply the special paint to your body via brush, stamp, or spray. The paint acts as a medium to send information from a person to another, transmit data from a person to a computer, or power small LEDs. It’s however limited to simple applications such as switching and data transfer that consume less power, but the potential is unlimited…the ink per-se is temporary, non-toxic and water-soluble and is composed of non-metallic conductive particles suspended in food and cosmetic additives. Thus it is safe for skin application.

The circuitry between the ink and the electronic device is completed when the small electrodes are placed directly on to the skin, which in turn transmits the data.”

Well this is a pretty futuristic type of henna, no? And although this ink is still in development stages, it seems natural that the designers of Bare foresee its use in performance. A dancer’s body, decorated with beautiful and intricate designs by makeup and costume folks would be able to trigger lighting and sound effects onstage as he or she moves to choreography. In fact, in their project video, the designers asked a dancer whose limbs were painted with Bare Ink to step into something called “The Music Box.” She improvised movements that set off pre-programmed audio samples and patterns, resulting in music that seems to be…composed by the body:

In their project paper, the designers explain how the Music Box works:

“The functionality of a MIDI keyboard was mapped onto the surfaces of the space with a matrix of resistance switches that input signals to a computer. A professional dancer was invited to interactive with the space and the conductive ink was applied to different parts of her skin in an iterative process. As different parts of her body touched the surfaces different switches were closed as electrical signals passed over her skin, creating musical notes and patterns.”

It might be the editing of the video, but at first I thought it wasn’t the most compelling display of the idea. Yet it’s clear what the potential is. It’s a start.

Take the concept of the Music Box to the stage and using human skin as a conductor could present some new opportunities for dancers, composers, set and video designers, prop masters and makeup artists to collaborate in wicked new ways. However, I still have some some practical questions about this conductive ink: How long will the ink last on the skin? What if the wearer starts sweating? Will the paint flake off the more the performer moves? Most importantly…does it come in Candy Apple Red?

– Jocelyn

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Wii Will, Wii Will Rock You

I can still remember my grade school self hunched low in the glow of the TV screen, muscles braced & straining, thumbs aching as I defended the world from space invaders and incoming asteroid attacks. Atari’s joystick controller was my small body’s extension into the video-game universe, while the rest of me remained slouched in the living room cushions. Although I graduated to a Sega Genesis, my brother’s first Nintendo, brief dalliances with Myst, and a few frustrating marathon sessions with Sony Playstations, I can’t say I ever did become a hardcore gamer. But I certainly knew the pain of controller induced carpal tunnel syndrome.

I took note of cool developments in gaming technology and culture as years went by. I admired the perseverance and ingenuity of both designers and players, but weren’t we all still stuck at a desk or in an easy chair, tethered to the console by a wire and a controller?

When the Wii game system with its wireless Wiimote was introduced, gamers finally got off the couch to physically interact with their favorite games. You didn’t just press a button to swing a digital golf club, you had assume the STANDING position, put the device in hand and ACTUALLY SWING YOUR ARM. The Wii remote uses an accelerometer that detects and measures speed of motion and infrared sensors to gauge the device’s position in space when you point it at the sensor bar on the console. Wii’s peripheral controllers allow players to use more than their thumbs to manipulate objects, shoot lasers, play sports, dance, do yoga or conduct an orchestra.

Although the Wii remote’s been hacked to perform non-gaming tasks, like controlling a robot lawn mower, I’ve been noticing how programmers and artists exploit the Wii’s motion control capabilities in their work. The Wii remote devices seem to be especially popular with those who use Ableton Live, Max/MSP/Jitter, Serato Live or similar programs for live audio and visual mixing.
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