MidiDancer consists physically of two small boxes and the eight sensors. The first box, the encoder/transmitter, is worn on the body of the dancer and connected to the flex sensors, which are positioned on the dancer’s body at locations like the elbows, wrists, hips, or knees. The thin wires that connect the encoder to the sensors are typically run under the performer’s costume so as not to interfere with his or her movement. Within this small box is a single-chip microcomputer and a radio transmitter. Thirty times a second the microcomputer coverts the analog voltages from the flex sensors into a digital number representing how bent or straight each flex sensor is at that moment. These numbers will vary continuously between zero when the sensor is straight to about 100 when it is fully bent. These values are passed on to the radio transmitter that broadcasts them over a three hundred-foot range.
