Paper Reading # 5 - Exploring the Design Space in Technology - Augmented Dance

Reference
Celine Latulipe, David Wilson, Sybil Huskey, Melissa Word, Arthur Carroll, Erin Carroll, Berto Gonzalez, Vikash Singh, Mike Wirth, Danielle Lottridge
CHI 2010  April 10-15, 2010, Atlanta, GA

Summary
This paper describes a project called Dance.Draw that focuses on research to integrate dance performances with technology. The main goal of the project is to enhance the audience interactions with the dance and its visualizations. The paper claims that this type of technology integration is not new, and several other computer scientists have studied this interaction.The Dance.Draw project  began as a performance in January 2008 where the performers dance with gyroscopic mice held in their hands. After the showing, they quickly learned that this technique did not allow the performers to do any type of movement with hand support. Later that year, the next performance experimented with only a subset of the performers holding the mice and including noticeable choreographic movements when the performers passed the mice to each other. This second performance returned great feedback about the audience interaction with the visualizations. The most recent performance was staged at CHI 2010 where the performers used wireless sensors for visualizations.

Discussion
This is the second article that I have read that involves research by Celine Latulipe. It is very interesting to see how she deals where she is trying to integrate technology with some type of art. To be more specific, in the two papers she deals with digital images and dance performance. I like the fact that she emphasizes that even though technology is involved, it cannot be the center piece of the art exhibition. Also, I liked this paper because it shows you that there has been a progress made in this dance-technology interaction. This leads me to believe that there could actually be a real future for these kind of performances.