Can the emotion of the performance exist without the performance?
Is it possible for a dance performance to involve the spectator while the dancer is not physically present?
Is there a safe-conduct to ensure that art can express its expressive power in the absence of contact and in the presence of “distancing”?

The Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto began to ask these questions in the most uncertain and obscure months of the recent past, marked by the closure of theatres and the impossibility of building prospects, to give life to Virtual Dance for Real People.

The project was born as a provocation: to address a design challenge to video and technology, calling them together in a dramatic moment, and with the intention of seeking new ways of relaunching with their help.

In investigating the relationship between dance and technology, the Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto relied on two partners:

• RE:Lab, Reggio Emilia: leading company in the design, development and evaluation of Human-Machine Interfaces (www.re-lab.tech/);
• Riot Studio (Lapej), Naples: multimedia communication and production company.

As co-producer, the Fondazione Palazzo Magnani of Reggio Emilia accompanies us in our research project.

Virtual Dance for Real People focuses on dance and, at the same time, envelops it with 360° video technology and virtual reality visors.

At the heart of the project are 3 MicroDanze, short dance performances, performed by one or more dancers, designed by talented young choreographers:

• Kepler and Meridiana by Diego Tortelli;
• Shelter by Saul Daniele Ardillo.

The audience can watch it through an Oculus visor, inside the same set in which it was created and, while the dance unfolds all its visual power, the spectator can observe who is dancing, the space around her/him, while the sounds and music envelop her/him. Just as if s/he were in a theatre, her/his gaze can dance with the dancers, in an interweaving of perceptions.