experiences, research

This was a interactive dance installation commissioned by ITC which analysed and visualised the most passionate dancers on the dance-floor. This herculean feat was achieved using special wrist bands and the fundamental principles of Hooke’s Law.

The special bands sync with the Passion Meter app to create a personalised profile for each of the dancers. It senses the passion of the wearer using sensors that monitor your heart rate and your movement in space translate your dance to the passion you have.

These values are then sent by the app to the server – where the Passion Meter decodes how enthusiastic each dancer is.

This information is visually represented onto a screen in real time for everyone to engage and reflect using Hooke’s law to generate Force-directed graph drawing. These are the set of algorithms used for drawing graphs in an aesthetically pleasing way. Their purpose is to position the nodes of a graph in two-dimensional space so that all the edges are of more or less equal length and there are as few crossing edges as possible, by assigning passion among the set of edges and the set of nodes, based on their relative positions, and then using these forces to simulate the passion of the nodes. Another Set of algorithms used in conduction to them is real time tempo detection. When the heart rate matches the tempo of the music being played; these node radiates and connects all the other nodes that are in sync with the music being played in house. Being one with music has nothing to do with the amount of passion you have. Look and connect with all the nodes that are connected to you in real life as well. You know now for sure you have a physiological connection!