Holosphere

Virtual Stage

Holosphere

Holosphere is a spatial computing company based in Birmingham that specialises in the production of VR, AR and real-time projection experiences.

Our time at Holosphere has seen our dancers work with cutting-edge motion capture and interactive real-time graphic rendering to link the physical and virtual worlds.

A shadow of a dancer is standing out against a smokey blue background with multi-colour balloons. The dancer is completely in shadow, with the left arm raised and right arm out pointing towards the floor, their left leg is bent at the knee with their weight leaning towards it, the right leg is straight and pointed to the right. In the background there is a smokey blue haze on a screen, with hints of purple. In the centre of the screen there are six balloons in red, blue, white, light blue and purple. In the ceiling two white projectors are mounted in an arch.

“Our project with Birmingham Royal ballet used mo-cap tracking technology designed to achieve the accuracy and low latency needed for VR applications along with a distributed real-time graphics rendering system more commonly used on big budget film and TV sets [such as Disney’s The Mandalorian].

“This setup allowed dancers/performers to bring a [35m long x 3m high] immersive backdrop to life using their body to drive the content.”

Sean Duffy, Director Holosphere

Kit Holder (BRB First Soloist & BRB2 Artistic Coordinator) and BRB2 founding member Oscar Kempsey-Fagg (BRB2 is BRB’s junior company of outstanding ballet graduates) worked with Holosphere to breathe life into their 35m immersive backdrop. Using motion capture technology and cutting-edge real-time graphics rendering, they created a dynamic, new type of dance content.

“I was thrilled to work with the team at Holosphere and explore the collaborative possibilities. I came away thoroughly inspired and excited by the prospect of a truly original and engaging endeavour which could showcase the potential of marrying this technology with dance.”

Kit Holder,Artistic Co-ordinator, BRB2

A dancer in shadow is stood side-on to the camera with left arm raised and right arm pointing towards the right side of the image. The dancer is wearing a baseball cap and has motion sensors on each wrist, ankle and on the hat itself. Behind the dancer there is a large screen which is displaying shades of blue and digital triangles of blue light which are interacting with the dancer’s movements.

Watch the video below to see our work with Holosphere.

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