Sensing Adjacency

Sensing Adjacency 傳感鄰接
Mocap experiment + Online Journals as Creative Practice
2022 February-2022 April, at Movement UnDefined, Hong Kong

Zelia’s experimental creation aimed to explore the relationships between dancer and their avatar. She researched motion capture (mocap) dance as the form of performance. The work shared the process where one senses the loss of information. The dancer faced a distrust of data, but s/he/it discovers new connections from multiple sensors.

A sensor, aka transducer, is a device that produces an output signal for sensing a physical phenomenon. There are many types of sensors. Most of the mocap suits use the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), which collects fluctuations, rotation, pressure, and other trends to a hub. The computing system converts the data to trigger the avatar to move into virtual environment.

In the rehearsal, the dancer interpreted different avatars, observing the embodied feedback. One of the choreographic tasks was to study how the axis of the body is connected to animation, allowing the computer system to calculate the distance between the avatar’s crotch and the ground. The choreographer tried to solve the technical problem of sinking and discovering the avatar’s mode of expressions. The creators involved in this production learned new approaches to collaboration.

To be continued……

Creative team:

Choreographer/dancer/multimedia designer: Zelia ZZ TAN 譚之卓

Avatar designer: Guido Stuch

Sound designer: Simon Wing-Tsuen Ho 何咏川

Costume designer: Perpetua Ip 葉頌恩

Production manager: Jess Cheung 張詠宜

Cinematographer: Wilfred Wong 黃漢樑

Dramaturg: Melissa Leung 梁曉端

Adviser: Yuri NG 伍宇烈

Stage manager and technician: Bee Li 李泳蓮, Gigi Chau 周樂芝, Karmen Law 羅嘉敏

Admin: Thomas Tse 謝嘉豪, David Lok 駱俊朗