Introduction
In
2003, a serendipitous meeting at a Winston-Salem health food store between
a dancer and a computer science professor was the beginning of an unexpected
collaboration of artists and scientists. Since then, choreographer Karola
Lüttringhaus of the alban
elved dance company and Wake Forest professors Jennifer
Burg and Yue-Ling
Wong have been working together to create novel dance productions that
weave together art and science. The goal of this collaboration is to introduce
science and mathematics to dance lovers in a way they might appreciate;
share the beauty of motion with those more likely to bury their noses in
computers and math textbooks; and excite audiences in general with newideas
and innovative choreography. The role of Burg and Wong has
been to suggest themes related to computer science and to weave digital
imagery, sound, and poetry into modern dance performances. The
images and poetry are presented in digital form, projected on a large screen
behind or beside the dancers.
The
Collaborators
The
main dancer/scientist collaborators are:
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Karola Lüttringhaus
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Jennifer Burg
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Yue-Ling Wong
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- Karola
Lüttringhaus, artistic director and choreographer, alban elved
dance company
- Jennifer
Burg, Department of Computer Science, Wake Forest University
- Yue-Ling
Wong, Departments of Art and Computer Science, Wake Forest University
Three
other important participants in the 2003 and 2004 productions:
Below
is a description of the 2003 and 2004 collaborations.
"Fibonacci
and Phi," December 2003
Excerpt
from "Fibonacci and Phi" program
The
first production emerging from this collaboration was entitled "Fibonacci
and Phi," staged in December 2003 at the Scales Fine Arts Auditorium, Wake
Forest University. This piece explored the intriguing ubiquity of the
Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio, Phi, in the beauty of natural and
artistic creations.
The
poem "Phi" provided the thematic background for the performance.
It was recited in short sections associated with different scenes during
the dance performance .
Audio link to the poem Phi, read by Rhan Small
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Phi,
by Jennifer Burg
What
are these haunting messages,
Coded in cryptic languages,
Through sights and sounds and senses
Speaking to us without words?
And
how do we decipher
The beauty as it strikes us,
By saying it or counting it
Make it finally our own?
Who
hears the golden music best,
Who sees with clearest vision?
And can they tell me what they see
And write down every note?
A
child has eyes still bright and true,
An ear open to voices.
A child hears shouts of tiny “Whos”
On dust specks in the air.
A
child knows worlds hold worlds inside,
Each world leads to another,
And angels dance on heads of pins
When you reach infinity.
But
children don’t have words for this
And insufficient numbers,
And as we age we want to say
Or count what we have known.
The
ancients mathematicians sought
A language most eternal
And found in pure proportions
A number timeless and divine.
The golden
ratio they called it,
And Phi in Greek we named it.
And everywhere we find its mark
In nature and in art.
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I
see a message etched
In a ragged rocky coastline
And the pattern is repeated
In the ripples at my feet.
A
fern unfurls its growing leaves
Like nature’s own fresh fractal,
So I paint a fractal of my own
To find the world inside.
I
try to read a message
In the face of a sunflower
But I’m blinded by the spirals
Spinning left, and spinning right.
The
spirals leave my dazzled grasp.
A galaxy is born
And sends to me through heaven’s time
A metaphor of stars.
A
message whispers softly
In the angles of a seashell
And calls my soul to trace a curve
Down paths that never end.
I
am told that these mute messages
All have Phi locked within them.
What is this magic number?
And what secrets does it hold?
We
cannot write the number,
So irrational by nature.
Never ending, always changing
As it steps toward the sublime.
What
would happen if we could
Know the endless perfection?
Say in words and in numbers
What we don’t yet understand?
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If
we mark the musical intervals
With infinite precision
Can we make a human symphony
From the harmony of the spheres?
If
we trace the seashell’s spiral
Down endless perfect angles
Will we finally find the center
And meet the eye of God?
We
cannot take the measure
Of Your exquisite beauty
Though it’s woven in the fabric
Of our world and our flesh.
We
cannot say Your name
Though it’s written in the sky.
Still we silently rejoice to read
The messages You send.”
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The
production included eight digital media elements:
Montage
of Digital Images
The
opening digital movie was created by Annie Lausier and Victoria Strokanova,
two Wake Forest students majoring in computer science and minoring in digital
art. The movie captures the images – beautiful, disturbing, and provocative – that
fill our every waking and sleeping moment.
Naomi’s
Morning
The
sunrise images for this scene were created from portions of a Mandelbrot
fractal. In the dance, Naomi triggers the sunrise scene by moving through
laser beams of light that send a MIDI-formatted message to a computer backstage,
signaling it to display a new image. The movement-to-MIDI converter, designed
for the company by Andy Turner, consists of a laser and photocell switch
grid set up on stage. The laser beams are broken by the dancers’ movements,
sending a message to a computer that can trigger either a musical sound or
the display of an image or text. This allows the choreographer to interweave
musical or visual output with dance. The imagery and MIDI-response for Naomi's
dance were designed and implemented by Jennifer Burg.
The
Mandelbrot Fractal Duet
The
Mandelbrot Fractal Duet uses the classic Mandelbrot fractal as its backdrop.
In the duet, the dancers again use the movement-to-MIDI converter to trigger
the computer to zoom in on the fractal, as if they are navigating through
its infinitely self-replicating space. Each time the dancers zoom in, the
fractal’s pixel values are recomputed at a finer level of detail, covering
a smaller portion of the complex number plane. Thus, the resolution and clarity
of the image remain the same. The computation is done by in parallel by a
Linux cluster.
The
color palette, MIDI-to-computer interface, XWindows graphics display, and
parallel computation of the fractal were designed and implemented by Jennifer
Burg. The Fractal Duet was an interesting challenge in real-time parallel
computation and an opportunity to test Wake Forest’s Linux cluster
of parallel computers. Each time the dancers move through the movement-to-MIDI
laser beam, a signal is sent to the cluster, physically located in downtown
Winston-Salem. The parallel processors divide the work of the repetitive
computation of pixel values and send the pixels back to a desktop computer
backstage – for a resolution of 1024 columns by 768 rows of pixels.
The real challenge was to be able to do this fast enough to animate the fractal
with real-time computation. With a gigabit ethernet connection to the Linux
cluster, myrinet network/switching technology within the cluster, and a desktop
computer with a fast graphics video card, the time to redisplay the fractal
was reduced to less than 1/10 of a second. This makes it possible for the
dancers to create the illusion that they are driving through the fractal,
in the end descending into one of its black holes.
The
paper "Cluster Computation
in Step with Real-Time Dance" by Jennifer Burg and Tim Miller, presented
at the 17th International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing
Systems, describes the technical aspects of the parallel fractal computation.
Dancing
in Virtual Snow
This
piece, created by Yue-Ling Wong, has the dancers “dancing in the virtual
snow.” This scene incorporates anaglyphic 3D animation viewable by
the audience through 3D glasses. The stereo visual effect makes the snow
appear to be falling on, in front of, and behind the dancers, expanding the
dimension of the performance space. Although most of the animated snowflakes
are in the form of small snowballs, once in a while a special lacy one appears.
These lacy snowflakes were adapted from the collection of Wilson A. Bentley,
reported to be the first person to photograph a single snow crystal in 1885
by fitting his bellows camera with a microscope. During his lifetime, Bentley
captured over 5000 snowflakes on photomicrographs.
Dancing
with Mannequins
In "Dancing
with Mannequins," two 3D mannequins lead a dance with human partners.
Although the mannequins’ movements are based on “motion capture” data,
their movements become original and unexpected during the performance by
means of Yue-Ling Wong’s design. Taking a signal from dancers backstage
who are operating a joystick and the computer keyboard, the upper and lower
bodies of each mannequin can move independently of each other. Each of the
upper and lower bodies can dance forward or backward in its own timeline
and at its own speed. To make this truly a human-computer interaction, live
dancers on stage try to keep up with the mannequins. This interactive dance
explores the nonlinear re-creation of dance phrases by deconstructing and
recombining pre-choreographed movements in real-time into new forms of expression.
Picnic
Under the Fractal Tree
Trees
are another example of a fractal structure found in nature. Again, you see
the self-similarity in a tree — a twig growing from a branch resembles
the branch itself, and both the twig and the branch resemble the shape of
the whole tree. In "Picnic Under the Fractal Tree," a simple fractal
tree is constructed beginning with one trunk, which then splits into a number
of branches, each of which repeats the same process of splitting. During
this scene, words become part of the tree's foliage. Each twig grows a word,
a phrase, or a leaf. When the shedding of the foliage is triggered, the audience
sees words start to fall off the twigs. As each person’s eyes jump
from word to word and follow the words’ paths, the words combine to
form a poem. Each audience member may construct a different poem by following
different words in a different order. To involve the audience in the creative
process, individuals were asked to contribute words and phrases for the fractal
tree as they entered the theatre before the performance. Before the picnic
scene, these words were input into the computer program. Each fractal tree
randomly selected words from the collection for its foliage. The scene was
created by Yue-Ling Wong.
The
Logarithmic Spiral
Implicit
in the logarithmic spiral are both the Fibonacci sequence and Phi. The size
of the square through which the spiral is traced follows the Fibonacci sequence.
The spiral can also be constructed by a succession of Golden Triangles – isosceles
triangles in which the ratio of a side to the base is Phi. Because it is
constructed upon the irrational number Phi, the logarithmic spiral spins
infinitely to its center, never converging to a center point. The logarithmic
spiral was created by computer science major Annie Lausier.
The
Galaxy Fractal
The galaxy fractal
for the final sequence was designed and programmed by Jennifer Burg and converted
to a digital movie with the assistance of computer science major Jimmy Lin.
The image is based on a Julia fractal, which differs from the Mandelbrot
fractal computationally in the initial and constant values that are used
in the equation. For the Galaxy Fractal, a spiral-shaped Julia fractal is
set in motion to give the audience the feeling that they are traveling into
it. Burg designed the fractal using Julia fractal calculations enhanced with
a star-like effect. The digital movie was compiled from 2000 image files
that were generated by a fractal computation program, imported into Adobe
Premiere, and saved in QuickTime format.
The
paper "Dancing
with Fractals and Antique Snowflakes" by Burg and Wong gives more
information on the "Fibonacci and Phi" performance.
"The
Bridge," December 2004
The
second collaboration of Lüttringhaus, Burg, and Wong was a two-part
performance entitled "The Bridge," presented in December 2004 at Wake Forest
University. The first part, called "A Link with the Darkness," involved
three-dimensional stereo projections created by Yue-Ling Wong. The second
part, entitled "Une Journée Abstraite," explored concepts of
languages -- both human and computer -- and the limits of what can be expressed
and computed.
Here
is the program of "The Bridge."
The
Making of "Une Journée Abstraite," as told
by Jennifer Burg
Brainstorming
for "Une Journée Abstraite" began in January 2004. Our inspiration
came from recognizing the multi-lingual nature of the dance troupe and collaborators – with
speakers of German, Italian, Hebrew, French, Chinese, and English. We
decided to tackle the theme of human and computer languages and the related
issues of computability and expressibility. We even talked about Chomsky's
hierarchy and Gödel's incompleteness theorem. Was this really
something that could translate into a dance production?
Innovations
and Script
The
alban elved dance company is known for its innovative choreography and
daring experimentation with new modes of expression. Each of their
performances is distinctively different, stretching the limits of modern
choreography, expression, and dancers' athleticism. Tackling abstract
concepts of computability as the theme of a dance production would be daring
enough in itself. To this, Karola added two more novel elements:
spoken dialog; and a 15-foot tall steel structure on which the performers
hang, climb, and dance.
the
structure
The
spoken script of "Une Journée Abstraite" evolved from a number
of sources: pseudo-poetic lines I wrote for Karola in the form
of questions submitted to a computer and the computer's responses,
lines suggested by North Carolina School of the Arts professor Marty
Rader; and paraphrases from Albert Camus' The Fall. Karola "deconstructed" my
pseudo-poetic lines and reconstructed these lines, along with the other
input, in the end creating dialog in the manner of the French "theatre
of the absurd." Dancers spoke alternately in French, Italian,
Hebrew, and English. The computer spoke in its own voice.
The
Characters
The
dancers played the parts of four characters.
Computer Concepts and Digital Media Elements
Above
all, "Une Journée Abstraite" was a dance performance – innovative,
daring, dynamic, and powerful. What I describe below, however, are
the concepts of computer science that were interwoven in the performance,
both thematically and visually.
Introduction -- Reflections
The
opening projection laid the thematic foundation with the abstract concepts of
computability
and expressibility, relieved with a little irony. The concepts are explained
in the voice of a computer.
No explanation necessary
here. The computer speaks for itself.
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"Reflections" (click
image)
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Ollie's
World
"Ollie's
World" offers
another perspective on one of the production's main ideas. On the one hand,
computers are mindless manipulators of symbols. They don't know what the
symbols mean. The symbols only have meaning in the minds of the humans
who create the computer programs, who associate the symbols with their experience
in the world. On the
other hand, "Ollie's World" asks us to consider how it might be to have
a "thought" in some sense, but no ability to manipulate symbols. "Ollie's
World" went through several revisions. In the first version, the projection
showed an elderly man who had had a stroke and had lost his ability to use and
understand simple words. This version seemed too sad for the piece, so
the elderly man was replaced with my dog, Ollie. I thought about how Ollie
must feel in a room of babbling voices, where only a few key words are understandable
to him.
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"Ollie's
World" (click image)
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Turing Machine Dance
Karola
and I became intrigued with the idea of choreographing a dance with a Turing
machine, so I created a Turing machine program that adds the binary numbers 11
plus 12, represented graphically with 3D states, an input tape, and a token moving
from one state to another. Karola choreographed the program as a duet,
one of the dancers blindfolded. Twelve states are necessary for the
program. Twelve chairs, which descend to the stage dangling from cords,
become the twelve states for the dancers. The computer voice recites the
states, and the moves are displayed as the
dance progresses. Zeroes and ones, x's and y's, are expressed in a dynamic
and precarious variety of dancers' poses – crouching, embracing, leaning,
standing on chairs, and lying on the floor.
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"Turing
Machine Dance" (click image)
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The Poem "Day"
Aside
from the pseudo-poetic dialog between computer and humans that I suggested
for "Une Journée Abstraite," I wrote two poems for the piece. The
first was entitled "Day." The poem attempts to describe how beautiful
my days seem to me. I found that I couldn't do this, and the inadequacy
of my words became the point of the poem and its companion poem, "Day, Reprise." My
original conception was to have "Day" recited in French, with the English
translation offset in the audio. In the final version of the piece, "Day" was
recited by Naomi in a whimsical, off-hand way.
Link
to the poem "Day"
Day
read in French and English
The
Puzzle
To represent
the "symbol-shuffling" nature of computers, I created a projection in the form
of a hand-held puzzle where you slide the tiles around until you reach a recognizable
picture or sequence
of words. This puzzle had two four-line verses expressing part of the theme
of the piece. In the end, we cut the puzzle down to one verse and incorporated
it into the dance performance's
conclusion, but here it is in its original
form.
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"A
Puzzle" (click image)
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Conclusion -- Day Reprise
We
had
a hard time with
the conclusion of "Une Journée Abstraite." The theme was difficult
and abstract and perhaps not "audience
friendly." I had started out taking my computational theory seriously,
but the script had evolved into theatre of the absurd. While I was out
taking pretty pictures and writing poetry about how inadequate computation and
language are for expressing the beauty of this world, the dancers were turning
Gödel's incompleteness theorem to Waiting for Godot. Then I showed up
at final rehearsals with sentimental nature imagery and a conclusion whose tone
didn't match the rest of the piece. How could this allfit together?
What seemed to pull everything together was a contrast between the computer's
mindless shuffling of symbols and the human's attempt to express meaning by arranging
symbols "in just the right way." Maybe the poetry did fit, though not as
the final note. We needed to come full circle, and end in the voice of
the computer. This is the final version of
the conclusion.
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"Day
Reprise, Conclusion of Une Journée Abstraite"
(click
image)
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