Motion, Captured: an Open Repository for Comparative Movement Studies

Abstract

This paper begins to describe a new kind of database, one that explores a diverse range of movement in the field of dance through capture of different bodies and different backgrounds - or what we are terming movement vernaculars. We re-purpose Ivan Illich's concept of 'vernacular work' [11] here to refer to those everyday forms of dance and organized movement that are informal, refractory (resistant to formal analysis), yet are socially reproduced and derived from a commons. The project investigates the notion of vernaculars in movement that is intentional and aesthetic through the development of a computational approach that highlights both similarities and differences, thereby revealing the specificities of each individual mover. This paper presents an example of how this movement database is used as a research tool, and how the fruits of that research can be added back to the database, thus adding a novel layer of annotation and further enriching the collection. Future researchers can then benefit from this layer, further refining and building upon these techniques. The creation of a robust, open source, movement lexicon repository will allow for observation, speculation, and contextualization - along with the provision of clean and complex data sets for new forms of creative expression.