Building an international network for virtual dance collaboration: Deploying Goldsmiths MoCap Streamer tool for inclusive and sustainable development

“Goldsmiths Mocap Streamer”是一种软件工具，最初是为了解决covid - 19限制的隔离和物理距离问题而开发的，首先通过动作捕捉数据流的框架远程连接舞者，然后查看可以在虚拟空间中建立什么样的情感，美学和情感联系。这些问题由我们的合作艺术家提出并主导，并通过一系列以实践为主导的研究研讨会与伦敦金匠学院的艺术家，以及远至新加坡（LASALLE）和香港（HKAPA）的艺术家进行了磨练和发展。然而，我们知道，除了当前的大流行问题之外，该工具具有更广泛的适用性，可能成为远程信息处理表演实践50年美学和技术演变历史的关键转折点。现在已经达到了一个点，我们已经证明了我们的动作捕捉流媒体框架的功能在技术和美学诗意的术语，我们现在希望推出它到一个真正的国际和多样化的网络舞蹈公司作为我们的研究过程中的下一个合乎逻辑的步骤。我们的目标是让那些以前可能没有考虑过做数字舞蹈工作的表演者自由地尝试我们已经展示的审美表达和有意义的交流形式。我们建议这项研究将有三个总体优先事项：1。这是一项采用奖学金/驻地结构的连接项目，将来自不同国际背景的小型舞蹈公司和创意技术人员聚集在一起，进行为期六个月的合作工作。我们将为他们提供一个动作捕捉初学者工具包和创建/开发预算，并将促进他们开发自己的和协作的数字工作。我们采用以用户为中心，通过设计方法进行研究-创建以实践为主导的反馈循环，以开发我们的远程舞蹈合作框架。在效率、可访问性和用户体验（UX）方面，继续开发和磨练我们现有的动作捕捉数据流工具，结合创建和开发一个新的人工智能工具，用于动作捕捉系统的互操作性——本质上是一个机器学习算法，可以在一个真正的系统无关的模式下识别和共享来自许多不同动作捕捉系统的编排动作。通过知识共享和性能展示活动，专门的网站记录和证明我们的发现，并开发开源许可工具包和软件资源。总的来说，我们以创造性实践为主导的研究方法和培训、指导和支持计划将使人们更深入地了解各种舞蹈作品，这些作品可以在这个国际网络中富有成效和经济地实现。我们的目标是为几家舞蹈公司打开大门，帮助他们为舞蹈作品创造新的美学方法，这样他们就可以开发新的观众和新的收入来源，同时为基于动态捕捉流媒体的国际合作提供一个可信和令人兴奋的用例。它将成为思考和运用舞蹈动作捕捉的新方法的基础，以实现可持续的未来发展。

'Goldsmiths Mocap Streamer' is a software tool that was initially developed to address the issues surrounding the isolation and physical distancing of the Covid19 restrictions, by first connecting dancers remotely through a framework for motion-capture data streaming, and then seeing what kinds of emotional, aesthetic, and affective connections could be made within virtual spaces. These concerns were framed and led by our collaborating artists, honed and developed through a series of practice-led research workshops with artists both local to Goldsmiths in London, and as far away as Singapore (LASALLE) and Hong Kong (HKAPA). However, we knew that beyond the immediate concerns of the pandemic, this tool had much broader applicability, possibly offering itself as a critical turning point in a 50-year history of the aesthetic and technological evolution of telematic performance practice. Having now reached a point where we have evidenced the functionality of our Mocap Streamer framework in both technical and aesthetic-poetic terms, we now wish to roll it out to a truly international and diverse network of dance companies as a next logical step in our research process. We aim to empower performers who might not have previously considered doing digital dance work to freely experiment in the forms of aesthetic expression and meaningful communication that we have already shown are possible. We propose that this research would have three overarching priorities: 1. A connector programme using a bursary/residency structure, to bring together small dance companies and creative technologists from diverse international backgrounds for six full months of collaborative work. We will provide them with a mocap starter toolkit and a creation/development budget, and will facilitate them to develop their own, and collaborative, digital work. We adopt a user-centred and research through design methodology - creating practice-led feedback loops to develop our framework for remote dance collaboration.2. To continue to develop and hone our existing motion capture data streaming tool in terms of efficiency, accessibility, and user experience (UX), incorporating the creation and development of a new AI tool for motion capture system interoperability - essentially a Machine Learning algorithm that can recognise and share choreographic movement from many different motion capture systems in a truly system-agnostic mode.3. To document and evidence our findings through a knowledge-sharing and performance showcase event, a dedicated website, and to develop a resource of open-source licensed toolkits and software. Overall, our creative practice-led research methodology and programme of training, mentoring, and support will lead to a deeper understanding of the kinds of dance work that can be productively and economically achieved within this international network. We aim to open doors for several dance companies, to facilitate them to create new aesthetic approaches to dance work, and so that they can develop new audiences and new revenue streams, at the same time offering a credible and exciting use-case for international mocap streaming-based collaboration. It will form the basis for new ways of thinking about and working with motion-capture in dance, towards sustainable future development.