The Uncanny Robots Project (2019)

Description

A research-creation project that examined the interaction between a human dancer and an industrial robot. The 15-minute performance was created by scanning the human dancer, reinterpreting the information into choreography for the robot, and devising the movement vocabulary from the interplay between them. Commissioned for the Design + Technology LAB opening at The Creative School.

Collaboration with: Linda Zhang, Louis Laberge-Côté, Belinda McGuire

Outputs

Performance:
15 minute live dance duet between the KUKA robot and Belinda McGuire.
Full performance recording
Three-minute trailer

Uncanny Text:
An experimental poetic text based on the Uncanny Robots project. Edited versions of dancer Belinda McGuire’s choreographic notes are presented alongside the robot’s position data stream, creating a conversation between the human and robot movements in a written form. It was published in the Belfield Literary Review: New TransAtlantic Dialogues (2021).
Uncanny Text project page

Video Credits

Director of the Design Technology Lab at The Creative School: Jonathon Anderson

Lighting Designer: Sam Skynner
Costume Designers: Alessia Urbani & Andrew Nasturzio
Technical Directors: Scott Martin, Josh Capodagli, Bonnie Thomson
Stage Manager: Nicholas Fassbender
Research Assistant: Sasha Anderson
Drone and 3D scanning consultant: Jimmy Tran
Video Producer: Lee Foster
Camera Operators: Chris Wilson, Mike Donis
Editor: Bryan Piggott
Special Thanks: Alex Alphonso, Mitchell Ayres, Theo Belc, Cherie Chiu, Betty Fan, Rowan Jones, Cory Macmillan, Katie Norman, Caroline Rodway, Emilie Trimbee, Kim Schaedlich, Performance Studio Crew

Media

Premiere of robot dance performance launches Creative Technology Lab
Can you feel empathy for a dancing robot?, Innovation Newsletter, Issue 33.