Automatic Sequencing of Ballet Poses

Abstract

In this article, we draw inspiration from the formal principals of movement organization in basic classical ballet. A grammar for leg positions in ballet movements restricted to the coronal plane is specified. Ballet is a highly ordered behavior of a truly complex biological system whose attributes have important analogs in systems theory that warrant quantitative study. By formulating aesthetic style from a systems theoretic perspective and, thus, resolving the attributes of human movement that typify and comprise stylized movement, we are beginning to define a metric for a previously abstract concept. Furthermore, the structure of the aesthetic movement explored here provides an interesting challenge for robotics research and formal methods, namely that of how the composition of structured discrete event systems may generate desired behavior for humanoid robotic tasks.