Amniotic [1]
Choreographer: Rose Xu
Performers: Ify Onyekonwu, Mary Jane Senger, Dasha Orlov, Samantha Tien, Emily Jiang, Vincent Le, Samantha Spahr, Rose Xu
Music: Natalia Quintanilla Cabrera
Narrator [2]: Ify Onyekonwu
Video Projection [3]: Rose Xu
Machine Learning [4]: Zhuodi (Zoe) Cai, Rose Xu
Special thanks to: Jennifer Salk and Undercurrent (Alethea Alexander and Hillary Grumman)
Amniotic is a choreographic exploration of memory, touch, and the unseen but ubiquitous forces that carry us. Inspired by the fluid support of amniotic waters, the work traces how tenderness and strength continue to live in the body, unfolding through dance, theater, sound, and projected imagery. It lingers in the space where gestures of care ripple outward like water, where tenderness anchors strength, and where human and machine meet to shape new ways of seeing and being with one another.
Technology is not merely a tool but a collaborator: a bespoke, dance-literate machine that listens, remembers, and responds mindfully to the dancers in real time. Built with wearable sensors and custom motion-recognition techniques, the system learns the vocabulary of the performers’ movement, mapping embodied memory into sound and visual media. This framework supports an environment of fluidity, care, and resonance. On stage, movement, story, and technology converge as one.
Notes:
1. Inspired by and partially choreographed using Undercurrent dance technique.
2. Read more on dance-literate machines and enjoy the full meditation score.
3. Inspired by and partially created with TouchDesigner sketches by Supermarket Sallad.
4. Read more on dance-literate machines.
See performance documentation (five-minute video excerpt) from Amniotic, premiered at the 2025 DXARTS Fall Concert: Hum Under the Riverstone.