Biped
Widely acclaimed as a breakthrough in the integration of dance and technology, the Biped projections provided an ever-shifting visual decor for Merce Cunningham’s dance of the same name. In performance, the imagery is projected on a huge transparent scrim covering the front of a large proscenium stage, giving the illusion of 3D as it floats in front of and seemingly among the live dancers behind it.
The projected movements are largely derived from motion-captured phrases from the choreography, which drive abstracted images of hand-drawn dancers moving through spare and evocative spaces. The sequences of animation, which vary from 10 seconds to 4 minutes, total 27 minutes; they run discontinuously through the performance.
Biped is the most widely seen of any Merce Cunningham dance; it has been performed numerous times throughout the world and was in Cunningham’s active repertory from the time of its creation to the time of his death ten years later.
Created by Eshkar and Kaiser.
From the archive — the earlier web page for this work
BIPED provides the ever-shifting visual decor for Merce Cunningham’s dance of the same name. It is widely considered to have been a breakthrough in the integration of dance and technology.
BIPED is an extended digital animation created to serve as the visual decor for a 45-minute dance of the same name choreographed by Merce Cunningham and performed by his company. The sequences of animation vary from 10 seconds to 4 minutes, totaling 27 minutes; they run discontinuously through the performance.
The movements are largely derived from motion-captured phrases from the choreography, which drive abstracted images of hand-drawn dancers moving through spare and evocative spaces.
BIPED is perhaps the most widely seen of any Cunningham dance; it has been performed numerous times throughout the world (see venues.)
In performance, the imagery is projected on a huge transparent scrim covering the front of a large proscenium stage, giving the illusion that it floats in front of and among the live dancers behind it.
BIPED has also been exhibited as a stand-alone installation, with huge projections on a large wall, and accompanied by the Gavin Bryars score for the original dance.