Ballet Meets Robotics, starring Maria Kochetkova

[pherank]

Ballet Meets Robotics:

http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/robots-and-choreography-abound-in-this-update-to-a-ballet-masterpiece

"Tarik Abdel-Gawad, director of the award-winning projection-mapping spectacular, Box, has finally released his pre-Box masterpiece, a robot-aided update of Tchaikovsky's ballet fantasia, Francesca da Rimini, a piece as revered for its heartwrenching subject matter as for its incredibly precise choreography. Abdel-Gawad took the piece one step further, employing a massive, robot-controlled camera to capture the deftness of the dance."

"It began as an experimental collaboration with a friend, Maria Kochetkova, shot over a single weekend with a small crew. It’s only being released now because projects like Box require so much time and focus."

Note: there are two videos with the article. Joan Boada dances with Maria, and the choreography is by Yuri Possokhov.

[diane]

Thanks for the link!

It is an interesting way of looking at it.

Lovely dancers!

Actually, as a former dancer, I really prefer to see the choreography as if from the front - or at least from one, consistent point.

Part of the enjoyment of watching dance - for me - is to see "how it is done", and to follow along.

I find myself sort of "dancing" inside, and the constant changes of angle and point-of-focus sort of confuse and frustrate me.

But I am sure many people really like this way of looking at dance!

-d-

[pherank]

Actually, as a former dancer, I really prefer to see the choreography as if from the front - or at least from one, consistent point.

Part of the enjoyment of watching dance - for me - is to see "how it is done", and to follow along.

I find myself sort of "dancing" inside, and the constant changes of angle and point-of-focus sort of confuse and frustrate me.

Diane, I think most of the dance audience will agree with you about point-of-view: moving cameras distract from, and can hide, portions of the chorepgraphy. And it's hard to see any advantage to that. It IS interesting to see the dancers from uncommon angles (such as overhead, or from stage back, or the wings), but only for brief segments when the overall formation of the dancers (and supernumeraries) doesn't have to be presented. In many ballets, the choreographic arrangement of bodies across the stage can be fairly rapid, and it's madness to keep switching camera viewpoints in the midst of all that. There was some notorious footage of NYCB performing for German TV that was something of a textbook on how not to film dance - although almost every possible camera angle was covered (except looking up at the ceiling!). There were some interesting shots to be sure, but the ballets were not well served. Kind of reminds me of the 1970s pop music films in which the cameras always seem to be focusing on something other than the 'action': if the lead guitarist was playing a solo, then the camera would be focused on the side of the singer's face, or a single hand of the drummer. Drugs really enhance creativity. ;)