The terms dance technology and Dance and Technology refer to application of modern

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system ...

in activities related to dance: in dance

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. ...

,"Dance Teaching Methods and Curriculum Design", by Gayle Kassing, Danielle Mary Jay
p. 21
/ref>

choreography Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...

,"Leaping into Dance Technology"
Jeffrey Bary, ''Connect: Information Technology at NYU'', Fall 2002

performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

, and research.Dance Technology Current Applications and Future Trends, Judith A. Gray (ed.), 1989,

Dance education

In education, dance technology includes various advanced media, such as video, interactive computer programs and internet., as well as training in the use of modern technologies for dance creation.

Dance design

Dance recording and computer choreography

One of the earliest uses of computers for dance were carried out in the 1960s at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

, where the choreographic process was codified and manipulated by computer, although the results were not published. In the 1970s there were several attempts to computerize the

Labanotation Labanotation (the grammatically correct form "Labannotation" or "Laban notation" is uncommon) is a system for analyzing and recording human movement. The inventor was Rudolf von Laban (1879-1958), a central figure in European modern dance, who ...

and later the

Benesh notation Benesh Movement Notation (BMN), also known as Benesh notation or choreology, is a dance notation system used to document dance and other types of human movement. Invented by Joan and Rudolf Benesh in the late 1940s, the system uses abstract symbo ...

. These attempts naturally evolved into attempts to translate the symbolic notations into computer models of the moving human body and further to computer-assisted creation of choreographies.

Dance performance

Dance technology allows for innovative art forms, such as collaborative network performances and ''The Dance Technology Project'',

Atlanta Ballet Atlanta Ballet is a ballet company, located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the longest continuously performing ballet company in the United States and the State Ballet of Georgia. History Atlanta Ballet was founded in 1929 by Dorothy Alexander ...

and

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

, with its first performance, "Non Sequitur,? of a ballerina dancing with a computer animated "virtual" dancer was shown on CNN's ''Future Watch'' program, May 1994. Virtual dance allows the exploration of physical and virtual dance and blended realities. The first ballet company to perform in a virtual environment was

Ballet Pixelle Ballet Pixelle (previously known as Second Life 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 c ...

. Inarra Saarinen is the artistic director and choreographer who creates animations, imports them into the virtual reality environmen
Second Life
and then choreographs using the animations. The avatar dancers are from all over the globe and are not automated in any way but truly dance with each other and the music. Her company began in 2006 and is still performing. Other companies,
ZeroG Skydancers
director DC Spensley (Dancoyote Antonelli), also established in 2006 and also still performing. Integration of live dance performance with dance environment (sound, lighting) was pioneered by Mark Coniglio, whose 1989

MidiDancer Mark Coniglio (born 1961 in Omaha, Nebraska) is a media artist, composer, and programmer. He is recognized as a pioneer in the integration of live performance and interactive digital technology. With choreographer Dawn Stoppiello he is co-founder ...

measured the angular change at several joints on the dancer's body and used the measurements to control music.

Artists

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

* DC Spensley * Susan Kozel *

Suguru Goto is a Japanese composer and new media artist who lives in Paris. He performances using new technology such as projection mapping, Kinect, motion capture and robotics and programming which he invented himself. He integrates dances, sounds and ima ...

* Marlon Barrios Solano * John D. Mitchell * Bebe Miller * Troika Ranch *

Chunky Move Chunky Move is an Australian contemporary dance company from Southbank, Victoria It was founded in 1995 and debuted at the Melbourne International Arts Festival with artistic director Gideon Obarzanek. The company's work is diverse and has inclu ...

* NobleMotion Dance * Palindrome * Jamie Jewett *

Boris Willis Boris Willis (born October 9, 1967) is Chief Artistic Officer of Boris Willis Moves and Associate Professor of Computer Game Design at George Mason University. Willis' work has been presented both nationally and internationally. He is the recipient ...

* Julie Cruse * Arthur Elsenaar * Ashley Friend *

Johannes Birringer Johannes Birringer is an independent media choreographer and artistic director of AlienNation Co., a multimedia ensemble that has collaborated on various site-specific and cross-cultural performance and installation projects since 1993. He lives ...

* Lucia Valentin * Tim Glenn * Yacov Sharir * Nic Sandiland *

Kate Sicchio Kate Sicchio is a choreographer and digital artist, notable for her work bringing together choreography, dance technology, e-textiles, and live coding performance. She is also active as curator and event organiser in the digital arts. Sicchio' ...

* Inarra Saarinen * Eric Dunlap * Gibson/Martelli (Igloo) * Todd Winkler * Joumana Mourad
IJAD Dance Company

Research

IDAT

Exploration of innovative approaches to harness modern technologies in dance has been reported at the ''International Dance and Technology Conference. It was held at the following locations:
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

,'' March 3, 1999 *The University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1992 *Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada, 1993 *York University, Toronto, Canada, 1995 (Proceedings: ) *Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, 1999.

References

External links

Archival footage of a PillowTalk about using modern technology as a medium to transmit modern dance to the public which took place at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, 7/23/2011.Archival footage of Bebe Miller discussing her approach to using Motion Capture technology within her choreography at a PillowTalk at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival on August 23, 2007.Archival footage of Philip Szporer and Marlene Millar discussing 3D dance film in ''PillowTalk: Canadian Dance on Film'' at Jacob's Pillow, 7/3/2010
{{Dance Dance research

Technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scie ...