Kareen's Solo:
from Virtual into Real
family history spoken in the languages of dance, video and animation...
“When I am Little Again” focuses on creating a virtual encounter between three generations of a Polish Jewish family and explores their connection to the heritage of Dr. Janusz Korscak. The project was originally conceived as a 15 minute looping multimedia installation that involved video, motion capture based animation, live performance and a display of photographs and other mementos of family history.
The project was completed at the Motion Capture Laboratory and other facilities of the Ohio State University’s Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) as well as studios of the Department of Dance.
In setting up the virtual reunion of the Balsam family we used motion capture technology to capture movement by four dancers, choreographed by Kareen Balsam. Vita Berezina-Blackburn’s role was to create an embodiment for Kareen's choreogrpahy.
The idea behind character design was to engage the memory of the viewer, by making the surface of each character shimmering and transparent, allowing to see only part of the character at a time. Only in their memory, a viewer is able to construct an uninterrupted image.
In creating the virtual environment of the performance an attempt was made to construct a space of imagined memory. The only point of connection with reality, and represented with higher degree of photorealism was the dance floor, which was accomplished via 3d texturing and lighting.
The virtual characters and environment were designed and connected to motion capture data via 3d software Maya. Their movement was processed from individual marker movement to a connected bone structure movement using software Diva.
