David Rokeby's Very Nervous System (VNS), offers a sophisticated level of computer control for detecting the accurate speed and location of dancers on stage. The VNS, coupled with software written in Opcode's Max, is used in two recent dance productions in which music is produced by dancers' movements. Dark Around the Edges, a collaboration with Walter Ferrero, uses mechanical motion to create
... [Show full abstract] rhythms and musical phrases. In Songs for the Body Electric, choreographer Gerry Girouard's fluid gestures influence compositional algorithms and signal processing parameters. Video projections and lighting changes also generate sound in counterpoint with the dance. 1. The Collaborative Process From Stravinsky and Nijinsky to Cage and Cunningham, history tells the stories of the mutual influence between composers and choreographers. New technology using motion sensors to trigger computer music ups the ante on this close collaboration by inviting dancers to become musical performers. This requires many hours of experimentation and testing for each new work in order to discover music and response mechanisms that feel "right" to the dancers for specific types of movement. One artistic challenge is to go beyond the novelty of producing music "out of thin air," by finding links between the body and sound that are both convincing to an audience and which serve the expressive purpose of the dance.