The Play
Performance | Interaction | Motion Capture | 3D
Choreographic Agency and the Politics of Digital Legibility
Mingjun Han Choreographer, Performer
John Luo Co-director, Creative Technologist, 3D Generalist
Lois H Co-director, Project Manager
Chienn Tai Music Composer, Orchestrator
Sofia Shen Prop Designer
An interactive dance performance where a live dancer controls a digital avatar through real-time motion capture. The performer is wearing a protable webcam and streamign everything she sees into the game engine in real time. Audience members influence the avatar’s transformation using game controllers, shaping the story in real time. Blending live movement, projection, and audience participation, the piece explores how personal identity shifts under social influence.
Rehearsal: Distributed Agency and the Controller-Body Loop
In this rehearsal, my movement is tracked while collaborators operate game controllers offstage. Every input, whether a button press or a joystick tilt, triggers a shift in the virtual camera or the avatar’s behavior. I design specific choreographic tasks to make these shifts visible on both my physical body and its digital double. This setup lets me test how external technical inputs redistribute agency and control within the performance system, turning the body into a site of negotiation between human intent and hardware intervention.
Performance: The Digital Double and the Politics of Recognition
This performance still highlights the tight coupling between my facial expressions and the avatar’s gestures, routed through a facial camera rig and full body capture. By mapping my expressions onto a digital double in real time, I explore the tension between identification and distance. I ask: What does it mean for a minoritized performer to be mediated through these systems. The performance becomes a study in how digital recognition both enables visibility and imposes a layer of alienation.