The Music Research Institute in cooperation with
the Clarion Music Center 
presents

Sunday July 25, 2004 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.
Clarion Music Center, 816 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, CA 94108 

A Lecture-Demonstration featuring
*** Dances from Japan and Kenya ***
Utilizing the Technology of Motion Capture

Presented  by 
Professors Yasuko Endo and Kazuya Kojima
Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan

The event features a Lecture-Demonstration on "Dances from Japan and Kenya utilizing the technology of Motion Capture". The lecture component will be presented by Professors Yasuko Endo and Kazuya Kojima. Professor Endo is affiliated with the Department of Social Sciences at Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan. She received her Ph.D. in 2002 in the Social Sciences from Ritsumeikan University. She is currently researching the meaning and function of the African dances in Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Professor Kojima is affiliated with the Graduate School at Ritsumeikan University in the Department of Sociology. He is currently Laban Editor, the graphic editor for studies in dance notation.

They will compare dances from Japan and Kenya. One dance is Hoso-odori, a prayer dance for the cure of smallpox, and is performed in the Kagoshim Prefecture in Japan. From Kenya, they have selected six traditional dances performed by eight professional dancers belonging to the Bomas ethnic group. Their performance was recorded at Ritsumeikan University October in 2003 using Motion Capture. 

The Motion Capture component will be presented by Ms. Rita Maloney, Vice President of Marketing and Web Development and Mr. Jeff Thingvold, both with the Motion Analysis Corporation MusuloGraphics, Inc., Santa Rosa, California. They will demonstrate how the system works. In lay terms, Motion Capture is a trade name and process by which external devices can be used to capture movement data from various live sources. This data is then transmitted to the computer, where 3D simulation software displays it in real-time applied to a virtual dancer.

Dr. Cynthia Tse Kimberlin, ethnomusicologist and Executive Director of the non-profit Music Research Institute is sponsor of this event in cooperation with Ms. Clara Hsu of the Clarion Music Center.

Professor Yasuko Endo is currently affiliated with the Department of Social Sciences at Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan. "She completed her doctoral work at Ochanomizu University, Tokyo and in 2002 received her Ph.D. in Social Sciences from Ritsumeikan University. She previously taught in the Department of Education at Kyoiuko University, Kyoto.  Currently, she is researching the meaning and function of the African dances in various countries including Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Her book Dance and Society was published in 2000 and her article "Dance in Yorubaland: case Study of the Ogun Festival in Oyan" was published in Intercultural Musicology 3 (1-2) by the Music Research Institute in Point Richmond, California for the Centre for Intercultural Music Arts, London, U.K.

Professor Kazuya Kojima is affiliated with the Graduate School at Ritsumeikan University in the Department of Sociology. He is currently LabanEditor, the graphic editor for dance notation.

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