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Embodiment in Virtual Reality Performance

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Interactivity and Game Creation (ArtsIT 2020)

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Abstract

In this publication, we present artistic and technical developments in creating and presenting dance performances in media art, where embodiment is crucial in the artistic process. We study and compare three distinct performances with dancers and one choreographer in the same dance company between 2009 and 2020. The degree of immersion in performance is then compared between the three pieces, created at Balleteatro, in Porto, addressing the transition from the real to the virtual in the performance perspective, with practical cases and direct observations in the way the audience learns different states of body representation through technological means. We initially present the NUVE performance (2010), interpreted by Né Barros, Co:Lateral (2016–2019), a performance that crosses different realities, and, finally, the transition to the UNA work (2020) that takes place in total virtuality. This publication focuses on the developments, the public experience, and the results obtained in more than 20 exhibitions in different locations, either in theater or auditorium and in conference venues.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://balleteatro.pt/.

  2. 2.

    https://jmartinho.net/about/.

  3. 3.

    https://balleteatro.pt/artistas/ne-barros.

  4. 4.

    Cave Automatic Virtual Environment.

  5. 5.

    https://jmartinho.net/nuve/.

  6. 6.

    https://jmartinho.net/colateral/.

  7. 7.

    https://jmartinho.net/una/.

  8. 8.

    https://openframeworks.cc/.

  9. 9.

    https://jmartinho.net/colateral/.

  10. 10.

    https://artsit.eai-conferences.org/2018/program-at-a-glance/.

  11. 11.

    https://isea2019.isea-international.org/.

  12. 12.

    https://www.tempsdimages-portugal.com/2019/show-item/colateral/.

  13. 13.

    https://2019.atdays.sk/.

  14. 14.

    https://www.dgartes.gov.pt/pt/evento/2966.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the entire Balleteatro technical and producing team that has supported the three projects described in this paper over the past ten years. To the research center CITAR (Research Center in Science and Technology of the Arts), School of Arts, Universidade Católica Portuguesa. To Casa Rolão in Braga for the space for some rehearsals. To the UNESCO Braga Media Arts organization, for the support in part of some equipment. To the EAI ArtsIT 2018 conference organization, in Braga. We would also like to thank the University of Minho’s engageLab laboratory for all the NUVE performance support in 2010. We also acknowledge the Openframeworks, OpenCV and Unity communities always very supportive in the on-line forums. Co:Lateral had the support of Direção Geral das Artes (https://www.dgartes.gov.pt/pt/noticia/2758).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Arts, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Porto, Portugal

    João Martinho Moura

  2. Balleteatro, Porto, Portugal

    Né Barros

  3. University of Applied Sciences Mainz - IMG, Mainz, Germany

    Paulo Ferreira-Lopes

Authors
  1. João Martinho Moura
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  2. Né Barros
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  3. Paulo Ferreira-Lopes
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Software and Media, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Anthony Brooks

  2. Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Eva Irene Brooks

  3. RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Duckworth Jonathan

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Moura, J.M., Barros, N., Ferreira-Lopes, P. (2021). Embodiment in Virtual Reality Performance. In: Brooks, A., Brooks, E.I., Jonathan, D. (eds) Interactivity and Game Creation. ArtsIT 2020. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 367. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73426-8_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73426-8_1

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