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Ballet Pixelle (previously known as
Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...
Ballet) is a ballet company founded in 2006 by choreographer Inarra Saarinen. Saarinen still serves as artistic director and choreographer. Ballet Pixelle is the first dance company to perform completely in
virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
. Its goal is to explore and extend physical and virtual dance and movement and to blend those realities. The company presents neoclassical,
contemporary ballet Contemporary ballet is a genre of dance that incorporates elements of classical ballet and modern dance. It employs classical ballet technique and in many cases classical pointe technique as well, but allows greater range of movement of the u ...
, and
eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...
works with all original animations,
choreography Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design ...
, and musical scores. The works are presented in real time with virtual dancers from all over the world. The dancers (from such places as Canada, Estonia, Germany, Japan, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom and the USA) log in at the same time and, using
avatars Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance ...
, perform choreography rehearsed previously. They are not automated, but actually dance in real time with the other dancers and the music. Mixed media arts are also used including historical video footage, photographs,
machinima Machinima, originally machinema () is the use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation. The word "machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''ma ...
, paintings, and text. Anyone can watch the performances simply by accessing the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
and logging into the global virtual reality called
Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...
. There are no ticket fees.


History

Ballet Pixelle was founded in 2006 by Inarra Saarinen. The original goal was to move the art of dance into a virtual environment, a mission which still continues. Inarra Saarinen has said "Our goal is to explore physical and virtual dance and movement and blended realities." There was, early on, an emphasis on the avatars, or virtual representations of dancers, being controlled by real people, rather than being moved by pre-arranged programming or artificial synchronizing devices of any kind. Some of the differences between virtual dance and physical possibility were obvious from the start: in the first production, ''Olmannen'' (2007), dancers flew, morphed into non-human shapes, and performed other feats impossible in the physical world. At first, the productions more closely resembled physical dance than later, as the artists explored the possibilities and limitations of the virtual format. For instance, there are no restrictions on the height or duration of leaps, physical body joint limits, the number of turns, or gravity such as hovering or flying. The restrictions which can occur are usually due to "lag" or latency—timing difficulties stemming from the host computer interacting with the viewers' computers. But in ''Phylogeny'' (2009), which examined the reverse development of the species from humans to dragons, the lag was actually utilized in the choreography to allow differences in every performance where exciting interactions between the dancers could happen. The basic elements of dance: telling a story via movement and music, or exploring movement itself, are the same as in physical dance. The stories are all original and were generally things that audience members accustomed to watching physical ballet would easily understand, while in some later works dancers have portrayed less recognizable things such as geometric shapes that move about the virtual stage in ''Avatara'' (2010). As happens with ballet in the physical world, live music is sometimes performed for the dance. In 2008, the ballet ''Shuzenji'' was performed occasionally with Solary Clary (
Sora Izumikawa , is a Japanese artist, singer-songwriter, voice actress, composer and producer currently based on Japan. Also Ex-CEO for Dog-Rights Co.,Ltd. Biography Born in Hiroshima, Japan to a chorister father and mother who taught electronic organ, Sora ...
in physical life) singing and playing the music live in real-time while the virtual performers danced. One possibility involves using a
machinima Machinima, originally machinema () is the use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation. The word "machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''ma ...
, a pre-recorded video of virtual dancers, with which the live performers could interact. This was first done in 2009 in ''Degas Dances''. Another of the ways in which virtual dance can expand more than physical dance is in the use of photographs. In traditional, physical dance, photos may be projected on a screen above a stage, but in a virtual world, the photo can become the stage, and the dancers can interact with it in a way not possible physically. This was first done in 2010 in ''one nine four two'', a memorial to the true fate of the Czech town of Lidice in World War II which was destroyed by Nazis. Ballet Pixelle has performed in non-virtual venues as well. The company has performed live in Berlin, Bhutan, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York City, Tokyo, Vancouver, Yokohama, and Washington DC among others. Live dancers have also performed along with their virtual counterparts in several live presentations over the years. Ballet Pixelle is considered one of the important pioneering companies in the arts in Second Life. In addition, Ballet Pixelle has been used to extend and explore set design.


Programming

Ballet Pixelle performs repertory from September through June at the Ballet Pixelle Theatre in Second Life. In addition, the company presents Saarinen's version of the Nutcracker, ''The Nut'', or the essence of The Nutcracker, every December also in Second Life. A secondary company, Ballet Pixelle Too (created in 2016), performs more experimental, eclectic works during the Summer season. Ballet Pixelle sometimes tours to other locations in the virtual world, such as the Royal Opera, the Rose Theatre, and so on. Ballet Pixelle also often performs in the real, physical world during the year as well in such cities as Berlin, Bhutan, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York City, Tokyo, Vancouver, Washington DC, Yokohama.


Technology

Ballet Pixelle is performed using the
Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...
global virtual reality platform and blends in various real life (non virtual) performances. The animations are developed using
motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...
, Poser,
Avimator Avimator is a basic BVH (Biovision Hierarchy) editor, originally written for use with Second Life, as a simple inexpensive alternative to commercial 3D computer graphics, 3D Rendering (computer graphics), rendering and Computer animation, animati ...
, etc. Motion capture is accomplished via both motion capture suits as well as the
Kinect Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light or time of flig ...
hardware system.


Gallery

BP 2015-04-15 00.jpg, ''Chimera'', 2015 BP 2015-04-15 01.jpg, ''Chimera'', 2015 BP 2015-04-15 09.jpg, ''Chimera'', 2015


References


External links

* {{Mixed reality Ballet companies Second Life