This project investigates a new set of interrelationships between performer, projection and technical operator, where the operator also becomes a ‘performer’ both controlling and being spontaneously present in the digital image on stage. The stage-performer interacts with the off-stage operator, who simultaneously sees, controls and 'performs' the projected image in the stage 'picture'. The expressive nature of the digital image concentrates the quality of the operator's movement through abstract forms that are choreographed with the stage performer.
Work that directly integrates performance and technologist in both process and performance is still rare. Collaborative methods that facilitate such integration deserve further exploration for the combined benefit of both academic and professional communities. Through this research we are seeking to identify the underlying processes of our work as collaborators from the fields of performance and new technologies, within the context of a performance research laboratory. How do our working practices complement each other, and where do we need to compromise or find alternative approaches?

This research project has critical implications for relationships between humans and technology in 21st century choreography and scenography.  The developing dialogue between performance and technology will further expose methodologies for collaborative research.

Project dates: 1st September 2006 to 31st January 2008

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Projecting Performance:
Interrelationships between performance and technology, dancer and operator

Projecting Performance is a collaboration between performance academics from the School of Performance & Cultural Industries and digital technologists from KMA Creative Technology Ltd. This AHRC-funded project focuses on the choreographic and scenographic exchange between dancers and projected digital images within a theatrical context. It questions processes of performance and perceived boundaries between performers and technologists, and instead it promotes dialogues in an iterative cycle of creative development. The research addresses these issues at different levels:


- What defines the relationships between the performer-dancer, the projected iimage and  the performer-operator?

- What are the methodologies for the engagement of performance academics and digital  technologists in effective collaborative research?

Projected digital images are widely employed in theatrical productions today, but their use is frequently governed either by pre-recorded footage with the performer as strictly-timed soloist, or  through computer-controlled interactions where the performer needs to trigger the technology.