Dance and choreography with technology!

I actually thought that I was bored of this topic and had nothing else I cared to write about. I thought that dance reality TV was shamefully oversaturating and cheapening the dance market. I thought that dance agencies hadn't changed since last time I wrote about them. I thought I didn't need to talk yet again about how exciting the prospect of 3D live action movies are for the dance industry. I thought I talked enough about dance content on the internet with the rise of YouTube an my mentioning a couple social networking sites.

I thought wrong.

After darting around on the internet for the past coup

le hours (and finding some very interesting dance articles, blogs, and other content...), I FINALLY found something that encouraged me into thinking that at least a certain part of the dance world is utilizing available technology.

It's called DanceForms 1.0 and it's a computer software program that allows choreographers to use software animation to choreograph, review, teach, and store their creative process. I stumbled upon it after googling "motion capture dance," which referred me to Merce Cunningham Dance Company's website (Merce is a very impressive, well-known choreographer, so once I saw that Merce uses the software I was interested)...

Take a look at the animation company's website: Credo Interactive Inc. and their site further explaining the product: DanceForms. Here is a quick screen shot to give you a glimpse of what the software is like:

 

This really sparked my interest. Before stumbling upon this program I was considering blogging about motion capture technology and my experience in a motion capture lab at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering with world renowned choreographer, Mark Morris, but dreaded the dullness of that topic. The reason I thought motion capture was dull was because my experience with motion capture was for use of performance enhancement where my motion capture dancing was shown during a solo performance of mine last spring at a USC School of Theater show. I felt it took away from my dancing instead of adding to it.

Anyways... Seeing this software, DanceForms, I'm really impressed with how Credo Interactives Inc. has used motion capture and applied it to teaching, recording, and suggesting choreographic movement. I'd really like to order it-- ooo, 20 day trial! Yes. :-) Then if I like it maybe I can somehow work it into my "books" budget for next semester.... hmmmm...

So here are a few other sites I discovered that may be of interest or relevant:

-TenduTV= New dance video online distribution site launching summer '08 (like YouTube, but just for dancers)... they also have a Facebook "fan" page for their updates.

-The (inter)Mission and Movmnt.net= Two social networking sites geared for dancers. The (inter)Mission was created by a New York City ballet dancer, Kristin Sloan, and is more East coast/ballet/musical theater, whereas Movmnt is a social networking site that was co-created by publisher David Benaym and Danny Tidwell, a So You Think You Can Dance finalist who sides more with LA and popular culture.

-The Winger, which is the parent website of The (inter)Mission and is a "community oriented dance website that shows the lives, insights, and personalities of professionals, students, experts, and pioneers in the dance world."

-Dance Blogathon! :in case you're interested :-)

Next time I'll research some more and expand on TenduTV... Do you think this could be cool? Will anyone go there instead of YouTube? Will this be used more as an added revenue stream or as a distribution channel?