Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.64.0910240336030.10278@panix3.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: Cyb <cybermind@listserv.aol.com>, Wryting-L <WRYTING-L@listserv.wvu.edu>
Subject: Avadance, caught.
Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:36:16 -0400 (EDT)
Avadance, caught. In 1996 there was Kyoko Date in Japan. Shortly after, virtual models. Around then, Diki in Korea. Shortly after, Adam. Around then in both Korean and Japan, virtual idols. Kyoko's big song, Love Communication. Kyoko's big number, dancing in Manhattan. Kyoko is textured wire-frame. She dances across film/video images of the Brooklyn Bridge. She dances in front of the Plaza or the Waldorf-Astoria. She dances in crowds. Her movements are frenetic, angular, energized. She dances fast. In the mid 200/0s, filtered and rewritten motion capture software imitated and extended Kyoko's dance. The new dance was avadance. The new avatar was Julu Twine. Avadance was imported into the virtual world Second Life. Foofwa d'Imobilite took up and extended Twine's avadance. Julu Twine took up Foofwa d'Imobilite's extensions. Avadance caught on. Kira Sedlock - credited with the name 'avadance' - taught avadance to fellow students in the West Virginia University dance department. Avadance spread everywhere. Foofwa d'Imobilite returned to the origin. Foofwa dreams of Kyoko Date modified by Julu Twine. Foofwa performs avadance. Again and again, videography attempts the impossible: record avadance. It's tiresome. Controlled conditions were used in the Mark Morris studios. Julu Twine performed the Boojum ritual music. Blue Carter sang 'I wonder what Kansas will be like.' Foofwa d'Imobilite performed recorded avadance. Avadance was long, angular. The file was huge. Julu Twine compressed the file. The result: http://www.alansondheim.org/avadance.mp4 . Clarity is questionable but the movement is there. The original - about a gigabyte in size. The copy - 30 meg. Give you an idea. watch his hands.