Dance and virtual physics: the mass of the object does not necessarily equal the object of the mass.

Abstract

Motion capture and 3D animation enable the creation of dance in which relationships between mass, weight and morphology are not restricted to the parameters of real-world physics. This paper will draw on a range of motion capture projects to develop an understanding of the virtualizing potential of motion capture as an encoder of not simply spatiality or temporality, but of the physics of movement, and therefore as a potential means of encoding the gravitational poetics at the core of contemporary dance.