Troika Ranch uses interactive digital media and computer technology as an essential component of their performances. This means that bending arm can warp a video image; the kick of a leg can recall a musical phrase.

Troika Ranch’s sensory devices allow the dancers to approach a performance in a manner similar to a jazz musician: they can follow their instincts from moment to moment, making improvisational choices that subtly or profoundly change the work. Coniglio and Stoppiello want the media elements in their work to have the same sense of dynamism, vitality and “aliveness” as the performers themselves. This linkage of body and technology highlights the uneasy relationship between the organic and the electronic – a central theme of Coniglio and Stoppiello’s work.

A typical setup includes one or more movement sensing devices that communicate with an offstage computer. A sensing device is a piece of equipment programmed to measure the movements or vocalizations of performers. One sensing device Troika Ranch developed and implemented is the MidiDancer; a bodysuit outfitted with plastic fibers that measure the flexion and extension of the major joints on the body. When a joint moves, it sends a signal to the computer. This signal is then transformed into code that manipulates other theatrical equipment – video cameras or digital sound devices. Video and sound are thereby manipulated directly in relation to a specific movement. For example, when a performer’s arm is straight, the sound is very soft; as the performer bends her arm, the sound amplifies. This system was first used while Coniglio and Stoppiello were students at CalArts in 1989. The two went on to create several works that feature the MidiDancer including their seminal work In Plane (1994), a duet for a dancer and her video representation. Using the MidiDancer, the performer controls the generation of music, the recall of video images, the manipulation of theatrical lighting and the movements of a robotically controlled video projector. This work has been analyzed and written about in numerous academic papers and journals. (See Awards, Press Quotes, & Reviews section for more info.)

Since 1994 Troika Ranch has continued to advance and improve their sensory devices. Troika Ranch’s current sensory device uses a single video camera placed on stage. This video camera is connected to a computer that runs specially designed software that imposes a 12-point virtual skeleton onto the body as seen by the camera. The points of the skeleton are then linked to a second piece of software that generates 3D imagery in real-time response to the movement of one or all of those points. For example, if we link a ribbon-like image to the wrist point on the virtual skeleton (which is following the real movement of a dancers wrist), when the dancer moves her wrist through space, the ribbon imagery will follow that movement and create a visible trace form of the wrist’s movement through space.

Isadora^® is the software “brain” behind Troika Ranch performances and is the main technology used to generate the 3D imagery for Troika Ranch’s current project. Created by Co-Director Mark Coniglio, Isadora is a graphic programming environment that provides interactive control over digital media, with special emphasis on real-time manipulation of digital video. Isadora gathers movement information from various sensory devices and uses that information to control and manipulate digital video, music synthesizers, sound modulation devices, theatrical lighting and robotic set pieces.