November 7, 2016
360 Degrees of Dance
Ohio State University Professor Bebe Miller says "it gives an audience the opportunity to feel like they’re inside the dance instead of just watching it." Professor Mitchell Rose describes it as "the electric feeling of being on stage in the middle of a performance."
They're describing the video from a Ricoh 360° camera being used for the 2016 Dance Downtown concert at the Davidson Theatre (formerly known as the Capitol Theatre) in the Vern Riffe Center, on November 11th and 12th at 8pm. Professor Rose suggested the use of the camera and Chris Summers, ASCTech Media Manager for the Department of Dance, arranged for its use.
The camera will be suspended at eye-level in the middle of the stage as the dancers perform around it in a piece specifically choreographed so that the camera does not hinder the dancers.
Although the camera intrudes into the performance space, Miller has embraced the challenge: “I’m enjoying figuring out how to make the dancers fly under and around the camera. Call it an opportunity in the shape of an obstacle.”
The camera enhances the performance, giving new perspectives to the audience and encouraging them to be more active. Rose sees "this immersive view [as] a rare perspective for the audience, which turn their virtual heads left/right, and up-and-down to explore the stage. Sweating, huffing puffing dancers fly by, out to the front the audience watches from the darkness, and behind the glaring lights in the wings dancers wait to make their entrance."
The camera is operable via a mobile device, eliminating the need for technicians to be on the stage, and will be mounted with monofilaments for minimal obtrusiveness on stage.
The video will be posted exclusively on the Dance Facebook page at first, but users only need to like the page to experience the video.
