PROJECT HISTORY
Fall 2014 - Return to SL with a Mission
In the Fall of 2014, Carlyle Chaparral returned to Second Life after a five year hiatus, with a mission in mind: to create "Free Dance Lessons in Second Life." Carlyle and his wife (SL: Janice Beauchamp) had been active in SL from 2006 until 2010, and learned to enjoy dancing in SL. They left SL and began dancing extensively in Real Life, frequenting East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Country, and Ballroom dancing opportunities. Carl noticed that almost all dances in RL began with a free class for beginners, during which participants learned the basics of how to dance. An important part of the dance class experience was the opportunity to dance with a variety of partners. You would meet so many dancers as you switched partners after every song that you would not lack for a variety of partners during the remainder of the dance.
Carlyle and Janice had been frustrated with dancing in Second Life. The dances were named in ways that usually gave no clue as to the type of dance or tempo. It took hours of practice to figure out how to choose dances that matched the music. Carlyle decided to return to Second Life to see if he could develop "Free Dance Lessons in SL" and create an environment to facilitate dancing more realistically.
Carlyle and Janice had been frustrated with dancing in Second Life. The dances were named in ways that usually gave no clue as to the type of dance or tempo. It took hours of practice to figure out how to choose dances that matched the music. Carlyle decided to return to Second Life to see if he could develop "Free Dance Lessons in SL" and create an environment to facilitate dancing more realistically.
Dance 101 Class: Introduction to Dance in Second Life
The goal of the first class was to teach SL residents how to recognize types and tempo of music, and match dances to the music, so that dancing would be more like real life and a lot more fun. A creative team was assembled (2LDance.org) with the mission to "Make More Dancers, Make Better Dancers." A 30 minute class was developed that taught six popular dances in SL: Waltz, Slow, Swing, Nightclub, Salsa and Tango. Dance animations were acquired that accurately represented these RL dances, and renamed accordingly. Dance songs were selected (and tempo tweaked) to accurately match the tempo of the animations. A dance machine was setup to make it easy to choose these six dances. The history and structure of the six dances, along with example photos, were built into textures, and information panels were created to display slides of each dance. A developer in SL (Ydille) joined the project to create scripted sign panels that would "listen" to the track information broadcasted from Soundboards in SL. A Soundboard script modification was obtained to put this information on a non-chat channel. A repertoire of songs were encoded with a 8-characted code system to drive the textures in the sign panels. A scripted narration was created courtesy of a RL Newscaster: Quando Coelli. The Dance 101 Class was born.
Expansion of 101 Classes and 2016 LEA Grant
Dance classes were implemented in several locations; an art gallery, an amusement park SIM, and at the "2LDance.org" development facility in Nogojiri. "Live Instructor" classes were offered which included costume changes during the course of the class so costumes matched the type of dance and music. The costume changes were a bit hit. One of the 101 site owners suggested we apply to the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) for a SIM grant. We did, and were selected for a three-month (extended to four) full SIM project to illustrate three instances of the Dance 101 Class in Fall, 2016. One of the examples involved creating a "Swing-Era" Ballroom, and a complete "Swing City" around it (created by Lesly Rotaru and Barbie Alchemi.) Stella Recco created a "beach side club" as another instance of the class. Live Instructor sessions were held during the life of the LEA grant. At the end of the LEA Grant, Barbie Alchemi provided space in her Creations Park SIM to move the "CP Swing" Ballroom to permanently.
The Savoy Project
During 2017, Carlyle re-imagined the Ballroom from a 'generic' example of Swing Era venues and focused on recreating the "World's Finest Ballroom" - Harlem's Savoy. This new vision included building a24x7 audio stream with hundreds of songs from the Swing Era, encoded to drive "band signs" on each side of the stage illustrating the greatest bands and singers of that era. We created "History Hallway" to showcase the key events of the Era, starting with the opening of Savoy. A space next to the Ballroom was re-imagined into a Swing Era Museum, with a deeper dive into the songs, bands, clubs and dances of the Swing Era. The Virtual Worlds - Best Practices in Education (VW-BPE) organization took note of Savoy and the Dance 101 class, and showcased us as an "Immersive Event" during the 2019 Annual Conference. The Savoy Ballroom.
Dance 301: The Swing Era Full immersion classroom 2018
As a spin-off of the Museum Development, our second class was envisioned: A full-immersion hour-long deep dive into the Birth of the Swing Era. Ydille modified her panels again, and Carlyle created a six-sided enclosed room which immersed participants into the experience of that period, including the clubs, bands, music, and especially the dances. This class gained VW:BPE recognition again, being selected as an "Immersive Event" for the 2020 Annual Conference. Dance 301: The Swing Era.
How Big was "The Track?" Avatar-scaled floorplan of Savoy
In 2021, our Museum expanded to include an "avatar-scaled" full recreation of the Savoy Ballroom floor plan. This exhibit stretches across the width of Creations Park above the Ballroom. The original Savoy held several thousands of dancers - this floorplan experience shows just how big that appears on the scale of Second Life.
Savoy was selected as an exhibitor at Second Life's 20th Birthday Celebration (SL20B) in June and July of 2023. This Exhibit provides a beginner's orientation to dancing in SL, along a new 15-minute version of the 101 class. An overview of the Savoy Ballroom, Museum, and Dance Classes is also provided.
Dance 401: DanceCOMP Competitive Dancing in Second Life
In the fall of 2024. we are developing the ability to have dance competitions in the second life. Dance 401: DanceCOMP is modeled after the Dance Sport real life. program and will allow couples to compete for trophies and fun. We have an educational facility and 401 practice dance floor just down the street from Savoy in Swing Town. Individuals are encouraged to participate as we will have volunteer dance partners available. Plan your costumes, practice your dance selection skills. and prepare to have a blast at DanceCOMP!
The Future: Graded Motor Imagery Therapy
One of Carlyle's wildest dreams has been to see if dancing in Second Life could be used as a tool for High-Repetition, High-Affinity Explicit Motor Imagery Therapy. Specifically, to see if long periods of focused effort could stimulate neuro-cortical growth and connectivity. Could dancing in Second Life address this? Perhaps the future will tell! Here are research materials in this exciting field of medicine.
