Greek Traditional Dances Capturing and a Kinematic Analysis Approach of the Greek Traditional Dance “Syrtos” (Terpsichore Project)

Abstract

Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) content means “the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith”. Although ICH content, especially traditional folklore performing arts, is commonly considered worthy of preservation by UNESCO and the EU Treaty, most of the current research efforts are on the focus is on tangible cultural assets. The aim of Terpsichore project is to, analyze, design, research, train, implement and validate an innovative framework for affordable digitization, modelling, archiving, e-preservation and presentation of ICH content related to folk dances, in a wide range of users. The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki was involved in the performance of Greek traditional dances and the three-dimensional capturing and editing. The three-dimensional recordings were held at the Laboratory of “Motor Behaviour and Adapted Physical Activity”. For data capturing we used the Vicon 3D recording system. Two Greek traditional dances from different regions of Greece were performed and captured. The results of the three-dimensional capturing of movement showed that the assessment of left toe trajectories through markers gives us the ability to identify the differences between two types of the Greek traditional dance “Syrtos”, “Syrtos Makedonikos” and “Syrtos Kalamatianos”. The findings of this work add a new approach to improve Greek traditional dances identification through 3D motion kinematic data analysis. They represent optical and mathematical representation of the rhythm of Greek traditional dances which could be used for the purposes of Terpsichore project.