Das Totale Tanz Theater

The virtual reality project “Das Totale Tanz Theater” (The Total Dance Theatre) was intended to reflect important works of the world-famous Bauhaus school. Taking place on the occasion of its founding anniversary, it was shown how the school has been influencing and shaping architecture, art, design and pedagogy until today. Inspired by the stage experiments of painter Oskar Schlemmer and the idea of the “Total Theatre” by Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, a virtual world with costumed dance machines was conceived, which explores the relationship of man and machine in the digital age. Equipped with virtual reality headsets, four users simultaneously enter a huge virtual stage construction and, with their “dance machines”, experience an interactive choreography across three levels. The movements of the dancers had been scanned via motion capturing and applied onto 3D models. The more than 2,500 resulting motion sequences were stored in a database and then reassembled into an interactive choreography by means of artificial intelligence. The interplay of man-made choreography, personal intervention and machine algorithms results in ever new forms of movement and dance.