Action Potential

"Action Potential" (working title) is a new media/dance work exploring the physiological and sonic difference between volitional and non-volitional movement. Previous Torino:Margolis work used wireless transmission to co-opt a person's free will, allowing a participant to take control of the performer's body via toy radio controls. In "Action Potential", we extract the performer's free will and transform it into sound. We do this though Electromyography (EMG), a method of sensing electrical potentials generated during voluntary action. During the performance, we use electromyography to capture a dancer's actions, and a wireless radio interface is used to transmit the information to software for audio processing. A second dancer physically manipulates the connected dancer, such that the physiological difference between volitional and non-volitional movement is illustrated through sound and silence. In this way, "Action Potential" seeks to exemplify the dancer's free will.