Dance Jockey: “Where art Thou?

” Yago de Quay
Music contribution Ståle Skogstad

Dance Jockey
Presents
“Where art Thou?”
Category: Music contribution | Concert 3

Description: Dance Jockey presents a musical performance entitled “Where art

Thou?” where sounds are controlled by sensors on the dancer's body. These sensors
manipulate music in real time by acquiring data about body actions and
transmitting the information to a control unit to create a broad range of musical
events. The result is an innovative 10 minute theatrical performance where the
author explores a world of sounds, staged several times in Norway and Portugal
and scheduled for New Interfaces for Musical Expression and Re-new:
International Conference on Interactive Media Art.

Xsens MVN is a commercial 3D motion

tracking product that is used mainly by the
army, industry, medicine and films. It consists
of 17 inertial sensors and an application for
recording and exporting data from the
sensors. Each sensor encapsulates an
accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer.
When worn by the dancer, they provide a
detailed 3D virtual representation of the body
as well as orientation. Through this suit, the
dancer is able to perform music through
precise body movements.

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Dance Jockey: “Where art Thou?” Yago de Quay
Music contribution Ståle Skogstad

This project grew out of the interest of

understanding the processes of innovation
and technology diffusion in artistic
performances. As artists, we have learned
that, throughout the history of mankind,
music and technology co-evolve shaping,
and being shaped by, human expression and
creativity. The variety and intricacy of these
recombination processes contribute
profoundly to the current diversity of
performative structures and meanings
within the arts.

Submitters: Yago de Quay is an interactive media artist, musician and

researcher based in Porto. His numerous installations and performances focus on
user participation contributing to modify the art piece itself. They always have a
strong sonic component and combine technologies to help create new modes of
expression. He earned a B.A. in Professional music from Berklee College of Music
and is currently finishing his MSc. in Sound Design and Interactive Music at the
Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto. He is the sole performer for Dance
Jockey.

Ståle Skogstad is a PhD student in the fourMs group at the Department of

Informatics at the University of Oslo and holds a Master degree in Computer
Science. His research is focused on using real-time full-body motion capture
technology for musical interaction. This includes real-time feature extraction from
full body motion capture data and technical studies of motion capture technologies.
He is currently working with the Xsens MVN inertial sensor suit. His main research
goal is to explore the potentials of these technologies for musical applications.

Performance Venue: Concert 3 at the Concert Hall of the Conservatory

"Benedetto Marcello" of Venice. The single performance is 10 min long and can be
presented in a stage at least 5 x 5 meters in size. The stage should be free of objects
that would otherwise obstruct the dancer.

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Dance Jockey: “Where art Thou?” Yago de Quay
Music contribution Ståle Skogstad

Performance Videos: • Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, 25

August 2010: http://bit.ly/bIKIDi • VERDIKT conference in Oslo, 1 November
2010: http://bit.ly/eDFmiJ

Equipment: Standard concert speakers. PA input for two ¼ inch mono patch
cords.