NODE Visualising Dance Data Workshop

Visualising Dance Data With Motion Bank

@ NODE 2013

Digital artists making their own choreographic work informed by Motion Bank research has become an emerging research goal of the project (see William Forsythe's comments on the first Motion Bank trailer). This can be divided into analytic and intuitive approaches toward the material (see Deborah Hay Score Production Session No. 1), both take advantage of what computation has to offer in working with 'dance data'.        
Sebastian Huber and NODE workshop participant. Photo: Jessica Schäfer

Visualising dance data has a history with Motion Bank. Norah Zuniga Shaw & Maria Palazzi in creating the pilot project for Motion Bank, Synchronous Objects, explored this aspect extensively (see essay 'The Dance The Data The Objects' by Norah Zuniga Shaw). Another notable dance data visualisation project (not associated with Motion Bank) uses the RAM Dance Toolkit (software trailer / research trailer) a project of the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media.
Choreographic patterns illuminated through video processing. Credit: Synchronous Objects Project, The Ohio State University and The Forsythe Company.

'Visualising Dance with Motion Bank' for the 3rd edition of NODE took place 16 February 2013 at Basis Studios Frankfurt. Using example patches developed by Sebastian Huber (who co-lead the workshop), participants were invited to explore what could be done specifically within the creative coding environment VVVV with the data resulting from the process of working on the choreography of Deborah Hay. (the recent Choreographic Coding Lab expanded on the choices of software)
NODE Motion Bank Lab at BASIS Studios. Photo: Jessica Schäfer

Deborah Hay data made available to the  workshop included all video recordings, all the 3D pathway tracks that go along with the recordings (Download diagram showing basic data relationships), the 'No Time to Fly' score PDF and Piecemaker time markers through an API (Application Program Interface) served on the local server. Contextual and background information was presented including Synchronous Objects, how Deborah Hay works and the Motion Bank score team's own data visualisation work (e.g. silhouette extraction). VVVV patches showing markers in time, videos as overlays and 3D tracks on virtual stage were provided.
Silhouette data extraction tool by Florian Jenett