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Capturing Stillness: Visualisations of dance through motion/performance capture

‘Capturing Stillness: Visualisations of dance through motion capture technologies’ described the research undertaken during a three year AHRC fellowship. The work undertaken placed a microscope on the dance practice Skinner Releasing Technique (SRT), in combination with motion capture and game engine technologies. It explored how motion capture technology can ‘map’ SRT and related practices to test how notions of embodiment are ‘read’, visualised and transmitted. The research explored the impact of the work on understanding the core values and characteristics of somatic movement practices such as SRT as well as the limits and possibilities of motion capture technology.

The research investigated how interactive virtual environments and avatar behaviour can unearth and expose awarenesses about stillness and first-person sensorial experience to increase kinaesthetic engagement. The development of new applications for motion capture investigated the user/viewer/ mover relationship in immersive environments to understand more about the moving and sensing body.

As the first study of its kind to interrogate SRT dance practice in the field of motion capture and interactive virtual environments, the project resulted in exhibitions, conference contributions, multimedia publications, didactic materials and various other events and public engagement activities.