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]]>This is the story of an aging tap dancer steadily losing his audience who becomes eclipsed by a rising young tap-dancing star, then finds new inspiration to recover his mojo.
The format will resemble a blend of silent-movie and theatrical technique, with dialogue presented on projected supertitles, and action divided into conventional scenes between blackouts.
Character Relationships
- Main character ‘Dancer’: aging tap dancer.
- Foil ‘Rising Star’: upcoming young tap dance star.
- Secondary characters: audience members.
Dancer is despondent that he can no longer command acclaim, and he feels deeply that his best days are behind him. He sees himself in the Young Star, and so feels a mix of respect and envy. The theater is his home, and he doesn’t want to leave it, but he fears being forced to retire.
Rising Star feels the energy and competitiveness of youth. He recognizes the history of Dancer, but doesn’t give him much thought or see him as competition. He isn’t disrepectful, just neglectful as he tries to keep on top of his game.
The Audience just wants a good show.
Beats
The story follows a conventional linear scene sequence:
- The Dancer finishes a number on stage to sparse applause, then slumps in despair as the curtain falls.
- The Dancer sits in his dressing room, remembering the past, then hears thunderous applause in the distance.
- The Young Star on stage performs dramatic flourishes to loud acclaim.
- The Dancer passes the Young Star in the hallway, and attempts to talk to him, but the Young Star brushes past.
- The Dancer is again on stage. No one applauds.
- The Dancer retreats to the wings. He watches the Rising Star go on stage and start his show.
- Watching the Rising Star perform, the Dancer tries to copy his steps offstage.
- Moving with increasing complexity and confidence, the Dancer starts putting on a fantastic show alone.
- Cut to the Rising Star in the middle of the show, starting to appear distracted by the sound offstage. He stumbles once, then exits to the wings.
- The Rising Star approaches the Dancer and beckons him onto the stage. The Dancer is surprised by the contact, then follows the Rising Star.
- Cut to an empty stage, the audience murmuring. The Dancer comes out, followed by the Rising Star. The audience quiets.
- The Dancer performs a chorus, then the Rising Star, until they are moving in counterpoint. The audience goes wild.
Realization
The primary challenge is producing precisely rhythmic movements of robot feet against the floor. The two main characters are machines with the same overall design, but the Dancer is clearly more world-worn and ‘dressed’ slightly better. The machines could be free-standing two-legged machines with actuation to ‘kick’ down and make the foot click against the floor. If that doesn’t work, each could be a puppet mounted on a black-painted pedestal which supports the ‘body’ weight.
The text will include simple ‘dialogue’ presented as projected supertitles in an antique font evoking silent movie intertitles.
The sound experience will include recorded jazz music synchronized tightly with the movement. The robots will create rhythmic sound.
The stage itself will be represent the stage of the text. The ‘Dressing Room’ will be evoked by adding a prop table with robot tools. The ‘Hallway’ will be suggested using lighting effects.
Questions
- Can the Dancer achieve an illusion of despair through the contrast of movement and stillnes?
- Can two similar robot bodies convey the illusion of age and experience versus youth and energy solely through movement?
- Will the audience accept the artifice of the supertitle? Will it be perceived as more natural than synthesized dialogue?
These questions might be answered qualitatively via audience survey.
]]>Elevator Pitch: A pair of lonely mismatched shoes try to find each other and dance together.
Character Relationships:
The main relationship to be explored in this sketch is the relationship between the two shoes. The shoes are lonely and desperate for a connection, but they are from two very different areas of a shoe store and cannot communicate very well. Other characters may include matched pairs of shoes that move in conventional ways (or just stand still) but you can tell that they connect very well. The main 2 shoes try to connect to these pairs before finding each other, but the other pairs of shoes are already complete and don’t want a third member. The two main characters are empathetic and connect to the audience, so they stand out the most from the many shoes. There are also some physical obstacles between the two main shoes in which they are not able to see each other and have to get past those to finally meet and figure out to dance as one performance. The two shoes have different personalities, as one is an extrovert and the other is an introvert. They have different relationships with their environment which remains the same.
Story Beat outline:
- The main 2 shoes start off in different locations in a shoe store.
- The extrovert shoe tries to frantically dance with the other pairs of shoes in the store.
- The pairs of shoes ignore the extrovert shoe and it trudges away.
- The introvert shoe tries to interact with the other pairs of shoes in its section.
- The pairs of shoes scare the introvert shoe and it flees.
- The introvert shoe hits a wall and makes a really loud sound.
- The sound of the introvert shoe hitting a wall or an obstacle surprises everyone else. The shoes stop dancing and the extrovert shoe jumps in shock.
- The extrovert shoe kicks the wall to make a sound in response. The introvert shoe spins with joy to hear something respond to it.
- The introvert shoe rhythmically kicks the wall and the extrovert shoe moves to the beat.
- The extrovert shoe responds with a new rhythm and the introvert shoe dances to it.
- The introvert shoe swivels so far that it accidentally ends up in the other section next to the extrovert shoe.
- The main 2 shoes are happy as they dance together as one performance.
1.7.3.4. Notes on Realization
The movements of the robots represent dancing and the movement of feet in shoes. The audience doesn’t need to see the shoes as sentient or magical, but the shoes can’t be understood as robots in-universe.
There is no dialogue, but there will be music and Foley effects, especially of the 2 main shoes hitting the wall.
The performance will begin by focusing on the extrovert shoe and not show the other shoe. Then, it will focus on the introvert shoe. Finally, the shoes will come together and both will be visible.
The background characters will be operated from a wall behind the shelves and will have simple tapping movements controlled by joints that rotate in one dimension. The main characters will be on the ground, operated by pneumatic devices that are hidden under the floor. There should be some function that would allow the shoes to tilt back and forth to simulate a walking or dancing motion as they twirl on their toes or heels. It is implied that the environment is a standard shoe store–nothing fancy or exciting usually happens here.
Shelves with many matching pairs of shoes are required. These pairs of shoes do not have to dance, but some small rhythmic movement would help show the conventionality and exclusivity of these pairs. This would also help the main characters of the performance stand out. A spotlight would be necessary to show each main character before they eventually discover each other. There would definitely be music–some simple riffs would help to show the mood of these characters as they try and fail to connect with the other shoes. However, there’d be a more exciting, complete song as the shoes come together and dance.
1.7.3.5. Evaluation
This approach will attempt to answer how two independent robotic characters can eventually group together and move as one performance. It will also attempt to emulate dance-like movements mechanically.