The V&A Performance Festival is returning to explore dance in all its forms in 2020. This includes an immersive dance performance in hologram using Magic Leap’s spatial computing headsets.
V&A Performance Festival runs from April 25 to May 3, 2020. It will include traditional and classical styles of dance, as well as contemporary and modern.
One highlight of the annual festival is a holographic dance performance viewed through Magic Leap’s cutting-edge spatial computing headsets.
The special event, titled ‘sonzai’, invites guests to experience the power of dance in mixed reality. The state-of-the-art immersive experience features interactive visuals.
Hologram appears and performs at V&A
Using the Magic Leap headsets, a hologram appears and performs in the gallery at the V&A.
In addition, there will be a voyage through the heritage of South Asian dance with a procession of Kathak dancers, while a film explores the partnership between Anna Pavlova and Uday Shankar.
There will also be a 1920s themed social dance class led by Swing Patrol with live music from Mississippi Swing Three, as well as a May Pole dance and May Day flower crown-making workshop.
More attractions include a conversation with Akram Khan, performances, calligraphy and movement workshops, and talks and tours celebrating the V&A.
Experience the power of dance in mixed reality
During the V&A Performance Festival, the ‘On Point: Royal Academy of Dance at 100’ display will explore the history of the Royal Academy of Dance.
Magic Leap is an industry leader in augmented reality (AR) and has received investment from Google. Last year, it unveiled an experimental spatial computing experience, Undersea.
Meanwhile, the V&A’s landmark exhibition for 2020, Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser, will display Walt Disney concept art and Tim Burton costumes for the first time in the UK.
The exhibition will feature rare concept art from Walt Disney‘s Alice in Wonderland (1951), as well as sketches and costumes from Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland (2010).
