Pressure sensitive sensors in the shoes respond to the dancer's movements by wirelessly triggering various orchestra sounds that are running in a pre-programmed sequence and played through the dance hall sound system.

So for the Blue Danube for instance, the man's heel unit might trigger the opening lower notes played by the string section answered by the woman's toes tapping out the flute response part. (man, man, man, man, man - girl, girl - girl girl) etc. The heel would trigger lower sounds like bassoons and oboes, the toes high sounds like flutes and violins, the middle sole would play stuff in between.

Although the actual music would be pre-programmed, the dancers would be playing it with their dance moves. Slow waltzes would be played by sliding the feet across the floor while more percussive, staccato tunes would be played with a more flamenco or tap dancing style.
-- doctorremulac3, Dec 21 2011

This only taken to the next level http://www.youtube....watch?v=1TmIa9RbhPM
[doctorremulac3, Dec 21 2011]

You can use these shoes http://www.youtube....watch?v=yyFL_ZKgTaQ
Courtesy of Japanese breaks band Hifana [theleopard, Dec 21 2011]

Sound effects triggered if you missed a step http://www.youtube....watch?v=AfcaRdfyvnM
[doctorremulac3, Dec 21 2011]

Or better yet... http://www.youtube....8O4&feature=related
Off time triggers play the song in out of tune tuba and trombone [doctorremulac3, Dec 21 2011]

And when this song starts playing... http://www.youtube....UYQ&feature=related
It's your cue to leave the stage. [doctorremulac3, Dec 21 2011]

[+] but I have experience with that sort of thing (not shoes), it relies on the wearer having an absolute sense of timing in order to sound good.
-- FlyingToaster, Dec 21 2011


Exactly. It would be something pretty cool to watch if they did it right. If they screwed up, it would sound as bad as it looked.

It'd be like walking a musical tightrope or tap dancing through a mine field.

If you wanted to make it more interesting, you could have goofy sound effects play when they danced a mis-cue. Buzzers, whoopie cushion sounds, cartoonish effects. One second you're dancing the Viennese Waltz, the next you hopping around in a Warner Brothers cartoon. (see link)
-- doctorremulac3, Dec 21 2011


BTW, for the audio engineers out there: I'm talking about the pressure sensitive switches on the shoes sending pressure dependent variable voltage to the key in trigger on multiple noise gates on a multi track audio recording. 3 channels per shoe, 6 in all per person and 12 for a pair of dancers. That should be enough tracks to put on a nice concert.

You could also have the gate decay slowly so you wouldn't get too much of a hard switched on / off effect unless that's what the song called for.
-- doctorremulac3, Dec 22 2011



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