Embodied interfaces: dancing with digital sprites

This paper focuses on the research project, Projecting Performance, in which off-stage technical operators take on the role of performer through the live manipulation of digital ‘sprites’ in a theatrical environment. The sprites are projected onto gauzes in the stage space and operators control them with graphics tablets and pens to perform with on-stage dancers. Operators have frequently described experiences of dislocation or translocation during the experience of operating and this paper investigates the reasons for such reports. It presents the tripartite models of Zich and Castronova from the fields of theatre studies and human-computer interaction respectively, cross-referencing them to analyse the relationship between performer-operator and sprite. Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological theories are then employed through the writings of Crowther and Fraleigh to explore the experience of the performer-operator. The paper proposes an understanding of the digital interface in Projecting Performance as embodied and experienced both visually and kinaesthetically by the performer-operator.