Abstract (Short paper)

Keywords: Dance, trans-media performance, digital and virtual environments, mobile devices, interactive apps, tweet seats.

In theatrical vernacular, the term ‘splitting centre’ refers to two performers staged at an equal distance from a centre point and sharing the focus of the audience. This term encapsulates the notion that two people (or, in the case of trans-media dance, two or more performance entities) are dividing the attention of the audience, operating as equal collaborators in a performance context. The augmentation of live performance with 3D projected scenography and mobile devices offers a starting point for discussions on the potential for dramaturgy, choreographic process, and changing expectations for audience behaviour in the theatre. In 2014, Deakin Motion.Lab premiered The Crack Up, a trans-media dance work that incorporated live performance, 3D digital scenography, and The Crack Up App, an app for mobile devices that audience members were invited to interact with during the performance. This investigation into the potential of trans-media dance performance, (defined here as a live performance in which both the digital and biological elements are choreographed as artistic equals within the theatrical context) with the addition of a mobile device raises questions about how the makers of trans-media dance might direct the attention of their audiences when the work is performed simultaneously across multiple platforms.

• Dr. Jordan Beth Vincent is an Associate Research Fellow at the Deakin Motion.Lab (Deakin University, Burwood, Australia) researching dance and digital technology, a position she has held since 2013. Jordan’s background is in dance history and criticism, and she holds a PhD early 20th century Australian dance history from the University of Melbourne. Since 2008, she has been a critic for The Age newspaper, and has contributed to a range of online and print publications in the areas of dance, physical theatre and circus.
• Professor Kim Vincs, director Motion.lab, Deakin University,, Burwood, Vic, Australia.  Motion.Lab is a movement, art and technology research centre working across the intersections between movement practice and technologies such as motion capture, AR, VR, haptics and robotics. I am a choreographer and interactive artist.
• Dr. John McCormick is one of the pioneers of new media dance, motion capture and telematics performance. John has worked with Motion.Lab (Deakin University,, Burwood, Vic, Australia) for the last five years, researching movement visualisation and analysis, and with the Centre for Intelligent Systems Research for the past three years investigating machine learning of  movement and its application in the performing arts.

Full text (PDF)p. 570-573