The program opened with Luc Vanier’s new dance work, Bob’s
Palace, a multi-media collaboration with the Beckman Institute, using
the latest in motion capture technology. This elusive commercial
technology, used in movies such as the Matrix and Final Fantasy and in all
mainstream video games, is for the first time used live onstage. Nine
dancers participate in this live video/motion capture/music performance as
these collaborators come together to create an ironic and often distorted
view of our most dreaded life scenarios. Vanier’s movement choices and
inventions are directly inspired by his interaction with the technology. Bob’s
Palace becomes an ode to our inner child’s tantrums; the toddler who
throws himself on the floor in the supermarket checkout line, a situation
simultaneously humorous and horrifying. It explores our need to be seen
and heard in an incomprehensible, chaotic world by creating our very own,
often-disjointed reality. Bob’s Palace walks us through these
awkward, insecure and unfinished moments of our lives that defy our
detection by their sheer “everydayness.” Supporting this vision, Lance
Chong from the Integrated Systems Laboratory (ISL) at the Beckman
Institute creates 3D models and animates them in real-time, using ISL’s
motion capture system, as Bradford Blackburn, a doctoral candidate from
the School of Music, creates live interactive music controlled by the
real-time movement of the dancers on stage.
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