Echo Network - Christopher Knowlton Dance Residency For Multi-sensory Tools

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This DCASE sponsored Dance Residency took place February-June, 2023, meeting weekly at the Chicago Cultural Center. The residency was an opportunity to explore value of multi-sensory technology with choreographers, movement artists, visual artists, costume fabricators, and composers.

 

Bill Parod's contribution was the development of the Echo Network Mobile App (shown in the video below). The app combines Augmented Reality body tracking with movement sonification, embedded in a multi-participant, network software framework. The video below is an app screen recording of a rehearsal during the residency at Chicago Cultural Center. The dancers (in order of appearance) are Helen Lee, Nejla Yatkin, and Tula Bera. Projection video processing by Enki Andrews.

 

The app integrates ARKit (Apple's Augmented Reality Software Library) with the ChucK physical model based digital sound synthesis platform. A simple sonification strategy mapping head, hands, and feet distances to synthesis parameters for a waveguide flute synthesis model was used for this proof-of-concept project. This provided a way for the dancers to affect the aural experience with body movement and positioning. This project contributes a new immersion modality (human body movement) to Earful's other capabilities for interactive spatial music and art.

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