Algo- rythmic steps

The project Algo- rythmic steps refers to participatory audiovisual performance, which redefines the relationship of Greek traditional dance and sound. The performance will occur after a series of workshops in collaboration with associations of Greek traditional dances. The project attempts to reverse the relationship of music-dance, with the ultimate objective
of creating a generative system where the music will be created from the kinesiology of the dancers itself, using data and meta-data from the dance movements.

The project examines traditional dance, detached from its original identity as a product of popular expression but sophisticated as an act of nostalgic recall of the past, which has been taught from schools and associations and preserved through the years by specific structure and rules.

The artists will re design specific accessories of the traditional costumes (scarves, headbands, belts, socks, etc.) incorporating sensors (speed, distance, pressure, etc). The sensors record data (numeric values), which depend on the movements of the feet, hands, modulating the the speed of the gait, the way of connecting hands (holding the palms, tense / bent elbows crosswise forward / back, the arm).

The data once collected as numerical values are analyzed by the algo-rithm and emerge sound patterns. The performance attempts to act as a link between the traditional and contemporary aesthetics.

Project proposal in collaboration with Afroditi Psarra and Marinos Koutsomichalis.