Dancing with Sheldon workshop
Do you want to code your body
to dance like Yoda and Darth Vader?
Join this workshop and find the algorithm of the Jedi in you!
DANCING WITH SHELDON
Code programming design methodologies applied to choreographic composition and the study of physical coordination.
About the Workshop
This workshop examines how technology can translate the vocabulary of a performing body into code, disrupt it, and create a new one.
Designed for artificial intelligence academics, interactive installation developers, dancers, and musicians, it integrates methodologies of body expressivity with the interactive system Wearable_SuperNow and Dancing with Sheldon.
Learn more
Dancing with Sheldon is a movement sequence generator software designed to help users explore and understand movement qualities.
Wearable_SuperNow is an instrument made of bracelets with motion capture sensors that allows to control sound through body movements.
Participants, wearing motion capture sensors, will explore how to change the physical quality of their movements, transforming music sequences into generative systems of music variations. The workshop concludes composing together a group performance.
Dancing with Sheldon
Dancing with Sheldon is a software designed to generate dance sequences, developed as part of Design Methodologies to apply programming code to the study of movement qualities and choreographic composition.
It was programed by translating the principles of three dance techniques—Forsythe, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and African Dance—into coding parameters, creating specific tools for articulations’ movement direction and speed options.
Learn more
In this workshop, we will integrate Dancing with Sheldon with three foundational dance techniques—Cunningham, Flying Low by David Zambrano, and Body Mind Centering—to explore their principles and enhance the study of movement and coordination. Below, we’ll dive into the key principles of these techniques:
Dance Techniques
Cunningham Technique
Focuses on the ability to change direction at will and play with a dynamic range of speeds, from fast to slow and vice versa.
Flying Low
Explores the primary laws of physics—cohesion and expansion—using simple movement patterns, speed, spiraling, and the release of energy to activate the relationship between the center and the joints.
Body Mind Centering
Visualizes how your body’s systems (bones, muscles, organs) work together to create movement, leading to personal discovery and repatterning.
Workshop Focus
This workshop provides a research space for exploring new forms of dance and choreographic composition, utilizing dance apps to study and enhance physical coordination.
It focuses on the study of different movement patterns as a way to explore space, both within and around the body, and as tools for communication, transformation and connection.
Three Focus points:
- 1. Arms-back connection and movement qualities: Physical exploration of the connection between arms and back, and how changes in limb direction impact movement quality, using Dancing with Sheldon.
- 2. Movement dynamics change: Experiencing how Wearable_SuperNow’s interactive aural feedback changes your movement patterns and prompts you to vary your movement qualities (from fast to slow, soft to sharp).
- 3. Emotions and musicality: Feeling how varying the musicality and rhythm of the sequences, transforms the movements meanings and emotions.
Workshop Structure
Part 1: Work With DWS
Warm Up
This session begins with a floor warm-up using Body-Weather techniques and Flying Low exercises, followed by an explanation of how Dancing with Sheldon works.
Weight and Directions
With DWS, participants will perform exercises connecting the extremities to the torso to give weight to the movements. This prepares participants to control the sensors with greater precision and understand how arm movements affect the back and other body parts.
Choreography
Participants will develop choreographic sequences, explore movement qualities, and analyze how each quality changes the meaning of the same movement.
Part 2: Work With Sensors
Wearable_SuperNow Explanation
The group will learn how the interactive system works, including its functionality and how it integrates with movement.
Sensors Exploration
Participants will use the sensors to experience the system firsthand while exploring space and experimenting with movement.
Repetition
Choreographic sequences will be repeated while wearing the sensors, allowing participants to analyze how auditory feedback influences their creativity and physical expression.
Part 3: Group Performance
Group Choreography
The individual choreographies created by each participant will be assembled into a cohesive ensemble performance.
Recording
Texts produced by participants will be recorded and used as aural feedback within the interactive system.
Conclusion
The workshop will conclude with a group discussion, where participants share their reflections on how they interpret movement qualities differently and how they were influenced by the insights and experiences of others.
Workshop Video
About Paola Tognazzi
Paola Tognazzi studied industrial design at the IED in Milan and dance techniques such as Cunningham, Ballet, Flying Low, and Body Mind Centering at the School of Arts SNDO in Amsterdam. She has worked with renowned artists like Sasha Waltz, Min Tanaka, and Nir de Volff, and founded Wearable_Dynamics in 2008. Her work explores the sensuality of interactive systems, creating artistic experiences that engage audiences physically and emotionally.