Dance is gradually going digital, streaming its rehearsals and performances online and recording dance as it happens. The digital revolution has affected the television, book and film world, and is now hitting dance too. Cameras can fit on tap shoes or inside a ballerina’s tiara, pointe shoes record footsteps as data that can be shown on a computer and drones hover above the stage, capturing a pas de deux from the air.
Digitising dance can have any number of positive effects, such as enabling choreographers and dancers to polish steps, make better use of rehearsal time, share work remotely, reduce injury and preserve repertoire for the future.
Notation systems for dance can be better than digitisation: the written Labanotation system for notating dance uses its symbols for movement quality, showing how to perform a step well rather than just perform it. Filming or recording dance on a computer can only show how a step is done. However, digital choreography programmes like Dance Designer allow choreographers to choose and connect pre-recorded stock movements, or create unique 3D steps with The Motion Bank, a data collection company that uses Microsoft Kinect and motion tracking technology to record dancers’ movements and generate an archived “movement library.” Despite this, and as with all dance notation systems, digital software is sometimes unable to accurately define dynamics and phrasing.
With footwear that can capture a dancers every step, a device such as the E-trace is visible against a pink shoe, which makes it obvious it is being used during performances. Despite this its motion tracking software means it can capture every movement, as a small electronic device attached to the bottom of a dancer’s shoe. The chip records a foot’s pressure and movement, which is then sent to a mobile app, used to interpret movement, compare rehearsals and performances and make corrections.
