Dancing with Zoetropes - Part II -- Great Dance

February 26, 2009

Dancing with Zoetropes - Part II

Last September, I wrote a post "Zoetrope: Creating the Illusion of Movement Through Present Times." In this post, I would like to link to more video examples of zoetropes with a focus on dance and movement.

In the following video, "Dancing Unconventionally," you can see an excellent example of a traditional zoetrope that features multiple dance styles. There is no audio:

A Modern-Day Version of the Pre-Cinema Era Zoetrope

Ayse Unal of Anima Istanbul and compositor Ilhan Poyraz created an imaginative, modern-day version of the pre-cinema era zoetrope to promote the Instanbul 2009 independent film festival. You can read a brief interview with Ayse Unal on Motionographer about the making of this video, and you can watch the video:

Adding User-Controls to a Zoetrope

In my September post, I wrote about the dance-on-camera work "Zoetrope," (watch movement loops) by dancer and choreographer Chirstinn Whyte and photographer and digital artist Jake Messenger.

In "Zoetropic," the idea of fragmented, sequential images is further explored by Whyte and Messenger through the addition of user controls to the interface:

zoetropic Chirstinn Whyte Jake Messenger

You can visit the Shiftwork website to learn more about the work of Whyte and Messenger.

Zoetropes in the NYC Subway

Last year artist and filmmaker Bill Brand's 1980 public art work "Masstransiscope" was restored for NYC subways riders in the form of a linear zoetrope. You can see a picture gallery from last year's restoration project. And here's a clip of what subway riders see:

Learn more about Brand's "Masstransiscope" in a New York Times article from last December: "Attention Passengers! To Your Right, This Trip Is About to Become Trippy."

This zoetrope "...can be seen on the Q and B trains from DeKalb Ave. in Brooklyn going into Manhattan toward Canal or Grand St. Look out the window on the right." -- Is it still there? Has anybody seen it?

Sony Builds World's Largest Zoetrope

To promote its Motionflow technology, Sony built the BRAVIA-drome in Venaria, Italy. This large-scale zoetrope measures ten meters across and weighs ten tons.

Here's a clip of the drome in action: