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from the issue of November 8, 2007
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Grant fuels dance, computer science collaboration
UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Dance troupes usually don't look to computer scientists for artistic inspiration, nor do computer scientists seek dancers for programming advice. But UNL's Lied Center for Performing Arts is bringing the two together - along with other academic departments and a rehabilitation hospital - to see what new discoveries develop.
| | TROIKA - Members of the Troika Ranch Digital Dance Company perform. Courtesy photo.
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The multiyear arts and technology initiative, funded by a $100,000 Creative Campus Innovations grant from the Association for Performing Arts Presenters, begins this week. By uniting a diverse group of participants - the UNL departments of theater, architecture, education, digital media and computer engineering, along with NET Television and the Lincoln Arts Council - the Lied Center hopes to encourage research breakthroughs, innovative teaching and the creation of a unique work of art.
For the project, the Lied Center has teamed with the Troika Ranch Digital Dance Company, a performing arts troupe based in New York City, which combines dance with digital technology. Troika's artistic co-director, Omaha native Mark Coniglio, has developed a real-time, motion-capture software program that translates a dancer's movement onstage into a three-dimensional digital image. At the end of the grant period, the company will have created a new original dance piece, which will premiere at UNL.
This type of motion-capture technology can also help advance physical rehabilitation by analyzing a patient's gait in real time to provide instant feedback. To further research in this area, Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln will collaborate with the Troika Company. Madonna researchers will share their own motion-capture process with the dance company, and demonstrate how they use it to analyze individuals' movements during rehabilitation. The directors of Troika Ranch hope to use the technology they have developed, in concert with Madonna's technology, to expand and improve both software programs. Madonna will also connect some of their patients with the dance company, allowing them to translate their personal stories into artistic pieces.
"Putting things together that don't naturally go together will start a conversation and a new way of thinking," said Laura Kendall, assistant director of community engagement and learning for the Lied Center. "We hope that, in the end, there are profound discoveries and an incredible piece of art that we can all share."
This is one of eight grants awarded to universities nationwide. The commissioned Troika work will debut in Lincoln in 2009 before touring nationally. Kendall said UNL's initiative will provide a model for other universities to develop interdisciplinary projects and encourage new, creative teaching and research methods.
GO TO: ISSUE OF NOVEMBER 8
NEWS HEADLINES FOR NOVEMBER 8
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Grant fuels dance, computer science collaboration
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