Interpolate

Angelina Papachatzaki

An interactive choreographic performance using wearable technologies and pneumatics, which aim to connect a dancer with audience members in an experience of movement, tactility and remote touch. Inspired by the contemporary dance technique of contact improvisation, the wearable attempts to simulate the sensation of touch on the bodies of the performer and audience members.

A mechanical glove maps the finger movements of the performer, which, with the use of pneumatics, causes air pockets to inflate on a wearable device on the body. The movement of each finger corresponds to specific points on the torso, providing stimulus for the performer to move and causing novel couplings of action, sensation and coordination across the body.

Inviting members of the audience to wear the same devices on their bodies, Interpolate also translates movement from one body to the other, allowing the audience to feel the stimuli the dancer is creating and responding to in their performance.

Interpolate explores possibilities around the puppetry of the self and of others, but attempts to represent trust and empathy between dancer and audience rather than domination and control.

Image: Interpolate by Angelina Papachatzaki