Analysis of Japanese dance movements using motion capture system

• Authors: Mitsu Yoshimura;Hideki Murasato;Tamiko Kai;Akira Kuromiya;Kiyoko Yokoyama;Kozaburo Hachimura
• Venue: Systems and Computers in Japan
• Year: 2006

In this research, the authors evaluate the degree to which dancers copy or follow the techniques of a master, or the degree of proficiency, by analyzing movements in traditional Japanese dance. The data used consist of three-dimensional time series for traditional Japanese dance movements acquired using optical motion capture system. In the authors' prior research, three moving coordinate systems which would move according to the translation and rotation of the body were used to extract the portion of the target movement. In this research, the authors consider a moving coordinate system which simultaneously takes into consideration translation, rotation, correction of orientation, and correction of waist tremble. In their prior research, the authors defined indices for movement stability and frequency characteristics as indices to quantitatively represent in an objective fashion the degree of proficiency of a dancer. Separate from this, in the current research the authors define an index with the spectrum component using a Gabor transform and an index for the amount of translation. The authors had a total of five people, a master from a particular dance school and four dance students of different genders and at different experience levels (all the master's students), perform dance experiments. The authors then extracted the target movements, measured the indices using the extraction results, and attempted to evaluate the degree of proficiency based on the proposed indices. Extraction was sufficiently precise, and the authors were able to confirm that the indices represent the differences appearing due to degree of proficiency and gender. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 37(1): 71–82, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (). DOI 10.1002/scj.20250