THE SYSTEM BRANCHES
Dance archives have historically extracted. Researchers enter, record, deposit — communities lose control. GMR asks: what if an archive remembered the terms under which movement was shared?
THE PROBLEM
Dance archives have historically extracted. Researchers enter, record, deposit — communities lose control. GMR asks: what if an archive remembered the terms under which movement was shared?
THE THINKING ARCHIVE
Not storage — accountable record. Provenance, context, and authority are built into the archive itself. Movement is deposited, not extracted.
TWO BODIES OF RECORD
Every session carries two tethered bodies: the evidentiary (what can be seen) and the computable (what can be analyzed). Always linked. Never severed.
THE DANCE CONFLUENCE
An interactive atlas mapping dance traditions across geography and history. Western Africa, Caribbean, diaspora — patterns of movement, migration, and cultural exchange.
THE FIELD PORTAL
A guided 10-step admission where movement becomes record under articulated terms. Contributors set conditions — not institutions.
ARCHIVE INTELLIGENCE
AI systems currently in development. Proprietary framework designed to work with archived material, not extract from it. Details not yet released.
ANTICIPATED IMPACT
New models for ethical dance archives. Accountable datasets for AI. Community-controlled cultural preservation. Archival justice.
GMR OUTPUT CHANNELS
PLATFORM
The interactive field site where traces are deposited, navigated, compared, and retrieved as accountable records.
BOOK
The long-form argument that frames the theory and stakes of the Thinking Archive across history, method, and futurity.
JOURNAL
Peer-facing writing that tests the claims in public, clarifies the method, and documents what the archive makes possible.
APP
A portable interface for capture, replay, and guided study, designed to keep movement knowledge alive beyond the lab.
CAPTURE INFRASTRUCTURE
LAB PHASE I
2023 · VCUMOVELLA MARKER MOTION CAPTURE
Initial lab captures using Movella marker-based motion capture system. Data simulation pipeline routed via Blender for rendering into video format visualization. Lab formats included BVH and MBX with low latency and precision. Blender renderings proved ineffective for analysis, but discoveries set the stage for developing the DRP Protocol—a systematic and ethical framework for assembling critical workflow and embodied captures.
LAB PHASE II
2024 · UT AUSTIN AET DOTY LIBRARYCAPTURY MARKERLESS MOTION CAPTURE
Transition from Movella to Captury advanced markerless mocap system at UT Austin's AET Doty Library Media Lab. Generates immediately available visualization via FBX and humanoid renderings through Unity, Unreal Engine, and other visualization software. Major discoveries include establishment and implementation of ACF, DRP Protocol & Process, and direct lab collaboration implementing QTC/SAM and PPC frameworks.
This generative lab created practical and technological resources now translated into the Dance Confluence platform— a full-fledged archival system enhanced by AI through AEI and AAF theoretical frameworks developed in late 2025/early 2026.
GMR CYBERSPACE
GMR CYBERSPACE VISUALIZATION — THREE.JS RENDERED MOTION CAPTURE DATA