Abstract
DAZZLE: A Re-Assembly of Bodies is a forty-five-minute virtual-reality dance work that merges live performance, cutting-edge technology, and historical reflection. Created by an ensemble of eight dancers with a choreographer, creative technologist, sound artist, and two designers, the piece unfolds across six scenes that blur the boundary between physical and virtual space. Audiences encounter a layered experience: a live stage performance backed by a large projection of the virtual world, seven immersed VR users, and two motion-captured participants moving among the dancers.
The project draws inspiration from the 1919 Dazzle Ball at London’s Royal Albert Hall, a celebration of peace after the First World War and the influenza pandemic. A century later, DAZZLE reimagines that moment of recovery and festivity to explore how performance might bridge live and remote audiences, a forward-looking approach honouring the past.
Research at the heart of the work investigates motion capture, avatar embodiment, and interaction in shared virtual environments. Choreography centres on “digital dance duets,” where human and avatar bodies move together in real time. Fifty striking costumes—built with bold graphic patterns and zero-waste cutting—immerse spectators and dissolve the line between cast and crew.
The research inquiry pursues several aims: examining the trope of the double in digital dance; weaving cultural and historical references from the Dazzle Ball era into movement and design; testing the limits of extended reality technology; and envisioning how streaming and machine-learning tools might enhance future dance performance.
Choreographer Gibson expands her concept of double presencing, treating “avataring” as a verb that enables dancers to inhabit two bodies simultaneously. Drawing on theorists such as Gregory Ulmer and Brian Rotman, she explores the sensation of witnessing oneself “beside itself.” Visual motifs echo dazzle naval camouflage, Busby Berkeley spectacles, Vorticist abstraction, and semaphore flag codes, creating a vivid, multi-sensory meditation on embodiment, history, and the porous boundaries of reality.
The project draws inspiration from the 1919 Dazzle Ball at London’s Royal Albert Hall, a celebration of peace after the First World War and the influenza pandemic. A century later, DAZZLE reimagines that moment of recovery and festivity to explore how performance might bridge live and remote audiences, a forward-looking approach honouring the past.
Research at the heart of the work investigates motion capture, avatar embodiment, and interaction in shared virtual environments. Choreography centres on “digital dance duets,” where human and avatar bodies move together in real time. Fifty striking costumes—built with bold graphic patterns and zero-waste cutting—immerse spectators and dissolve the line between cast and crew.
The research inquiry pursues several aims: examining the trope of the double in digital dance; weaving cultural and historical references from the Dazzle Ball era into movement and design; testing the limits of extended reality technology; and envisioning how streaming and machine-learning tools might enhance future dance performance.
Choreographer Gibson expands her concept of double presencing, treating “avataring” as a verb that enables dancers to inhabit two bodies simultaneously. Drawing on theorists such as Gregory Ulmer and Brian Rotman, she explores the sensation of witnessing oneself “beside itself.” Visual motifs echo dazzle naval camouflage, Busby Berkeley spectacles, Vorticist abstraction, and semaphore flag codes, creating a vivid, multi-sensory meditation on embodiment, history, and the porous boundaries of reality.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 20 Jan 2021 |
Keywords
- motion capture technology
- Virtual Reality
- Costumes
- Design
- Dance
- Jewellery
- Sound design
- Haptic Interface
- Interactive interfaces
- Zero-Waste Pattern Cutting
- Dazzle Camouflage
- Participatory performance
- Machine learning
- Generative Choreography
