February 1, 2007

Stealth Ballet Company in Second Life

I came across this post yesterday, "Second Life Ballet to perform 'Olmannen,'" about an upcoming dance performance in the popular Second Life virtual world.

I'm very curious about this performance - the premiere is this Sunday. But I can't find any information about the Second Life Ballet company. I'm just going to finally have to jump into Second Life and join this virtual world. I'm also going to see if I can find software that lets me capture the performance so I can post the video to Great Dance.

While I searched in vain for this mysterious ballet company, here's some Second Life dancing I did come across:

Watch this video performance of Zero G Sky Dancers in Second Life, which is produced and directed by Dan Coyote Antonelli. In a promotion for this performance, the avatar troupe is described as "The only Hyperformalist dance company in either world!." But this video only gives you a general idea of what these 3D dance performances are like:

Here are two overviews/reviews of the above performance:

- "ZeroG SkyDancers in Second Life":

It was FANTASTIC! How to describe this experience? First, check out the video. It doesn’t do the performance justice. Imagine a stage surrounded by glowing, translucent blobs of light. Add some subtle background music and stir in the dancers (avatars). The dancers fly about, interacting with the stage, the lights, and each other, transforming the environment as the dance. My description doesn’t do it justice either. Oh well, next time there is a performance I’ll try to get the word out.

- "The Organic Beauty of Hyperformalism":

I was lucky to be one of the select few that were invited to DanCoyote Antonelli’s SkyDancer performance on Weds evening this week- seating is limited to 30 seats per show, SkyDancer shows are always sold-out, reservation-only events.

Four (sometimes five) talented avies...sky danced in a massive 400 meter cubic volume performance space...The musical score by ZeroOne Paz was a perfect accompaniment to the spectacle in that it was ethereal, minimalist yet had just enough variation and rhythm to move the performance forward. I particularly loved the harp-like sounds employed...and the long sustained string sounds and pulsing rhythm that melded perfectly with the swooping flying loops by the dancers.

Visually the event was stupendous...It was difficult to decide which way to look at times, especially as many of the ‘organisms’ actually passed through us, the audience at times and the dancers were always drawing our attention too. (Of course I was also busy taking pictures and filming!). The wonder of these pieces is the sense of awe that you get seeing the avie embodiment dwarfed by miraculous, before unseen forms and the shared experience with thirty or so friends all who understand and appreciate the emotional statement being made. It is very experiential, poignant and escapist without being ’space cadet’, meaning it never feels like gratuitous eye candy, for eye candy sake.

Dancers take a break during intermission:

While I'm at it, here are some more pictures from dancing in Second Life:

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