A system for practicing formations in dance performance using a two-axis movable electric curtain track

Abstract

Improving physical expressions and the sense of rhythm in dance performances has become important in recent years due to the increase in child dancers and dance studios. Even beginners in dance gain more opportunities to perform dances in groups. When dancing in a group, collapsed formation will greatly reduce the quality of dance performance even if the choreography is synchronized with the music. Therefore, learning the dance formation in a group is as important as learning its choreography. It is also important to be aware of keeping the proper formation and moving smoothly into the next formation to perform professional level group dances. However, it is difficult to obtain the sense of a proper formation if some members of the dance cannot participate in the practice. We have proposed a practice-support system for performing the formation smoothly using a self-propelled screen even if there is no dance partner. However, the movement of people was limited more than necessary by the excessive presence of a self-propelled screen moving irregular and the fear of the collision with the screen. Therefore, the reproducibility of the trajectory in the case where the user danced with another dancer was low. In this work, we propose a practice-support system for performing the formation using the two-axis movable curtain rail, whose movement direction does not drift and the material used for projection is soft. These characteristics reduce the fear of the collision and improve the accuracy in movement of the screen.