This Weekend in Second Life Dance

Ballet Pixelle - Avatara - April 18 2018

Hi there. R. Crap Mariner, your friendly neighbourhood dance correspondent.

I’ll be posting dance performance schedules, similar to Inara’s posts about Seanchai Library readings.

This is a huge week. Lighting the Way and Fantasy Faire are running, and I’m running like a beheaded chicken trying to keep up with the updates and note cards. Hopefully, I caught them all.

Let’s get started, here’s the events that I saw on the calendar as of press time.


(All times SLT)

Winds of the Sahara - April 15 2018

Friday, April 20th

9:00AM – SLCS

The Second Life Cheerleading Squad is the grid’s oldest, largest and most successful professional cheerleading squad. Our members undergo a month-long training, and are some of the most motivated and talented Girls anywhere. We offer large squad cheer performances, event hosting, on-line experience beta testing, etc.

We perform all over the grid, with performances at special events, Clubs, Live music shows and the like. In addition, The SLCS raises a large amount of cash for RFL, with over 10000 USD raised so far.

For more information on how the SLCS can work with you contact Lisa Tredwell

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Story%20Well/99/194/61

12:00PM – Nouvelle Folies

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Astrids%20Nemeton/119/247/61

6:00PM – Elysium Cabaret

Elysium Cabaret – Welcome to the Weekend!

If it’s Friday, it’s Elysium Cabaret! Fancy some imagination? In The Empire Room at Copperhead Road, every Friday at 6pm SLT the dynamic performers of Elysium Cabaret take the stage to bring you a solid hour of entertainment!

Featuring elaborate sets and choreography sequenced to an eclectic genre of music, Elysium Cabaret offers something for everyone. Grab your friends and get their early because the sim fills. Come celebrate Friday! Welcome to the weekend!

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Copperhead%20Road/74/64/2754

6:00PM – Misfit Follies

Misfit Dance & Performance Art performs full-scale production shows at our home theatre, other venues, fund-raising events & private parties all over the grid! The theme is a fantastical variety dance show with fun & unusual character /avatar dancers – each act tells a little story. Think Broadway in SL!

We are so proud to present shows continuously for our amazing audience of dance art patrons! With close to 60 (and growing!) story dance art pieces to build our weekly shows that we perform in our Theatre two Wednesdays per month at 7 PM SL, one Sunday per month at 5 pm SL and once per month on certain Fridays at 10 AM SL for our global time zones friends!

Misfit Dance also presents shows “OnTheRoad” at various locations for Cancer/ Autism / Parkinsons’ Disease and More – Awareness & Fund Raising events in SL / year round!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Story%20Well/99/194/61

9:00PM – Monarchs

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO! It’s an article that you should read to learn more about Monarchs!

(NOTE: I rarely give suggestions, but if you are lucky enough to catch Monarchs on Friday night, you can then be free to catch Burlesque Dolls at 3PM on Saturday.)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Monarchs/143/214/454

Saturday, April 21

Debauche - April 14 2018

9:00AM – Misfit Follies

Misfit Dance & Performance Art performs full-scale production shows at our home theatre, other venues, fund-raising events & private parties all over the grid! The theme is a fantastical variety dance show with fun & unusual character /avatar dancers – each act tells a little story. Think Broadway in SL!

We are so proud to present shows continuously for our amazing audience of dance art patrons! With close to 60 (and growing!) story dance art pieces to build our weekly shows that we perform in our Theatre two Wednesdays per month at 7 PM SL, one Sunday per month at 5 pm SL and once per month on certain Fridays at 10 AM SL for our global time zones friends!

Misfit Dance also presents shows “OnTheRoad” at various locations for Cancer/ Autism / Parkinsons’ Disease and More – Awareness & Fund Raising events in SL / year round!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Story%20Well/99/194/61

11:00AM – Winds of the Sahara

(NOTE: This is a rare early performance of Winds for LTW. If 5PM Sundays is a bit late for you, then catch them now.)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/This%20Sim/94/161/2503

12:00PM – Oasis and Debauche

Not one but TWO great dance troupes join forces to create a truly magical experience. Always great to share the stage with such brilliant performers and always a fantastic show for the audience to be a part of.

You do NOT want to miss this great show. Oasis and Debauche light up the stage together.

(NOTE: Yay!)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Puntarenas%205/82/111/22

12:00PM – Night Theatre

A brand new show, made just for Fantasy Faire 2018!

“Where the magic flows free between Dusk and Dawn….and tales take form from pixels….weaving a never-ending tapestry of twilight stories…..”

The Night Theatre has been actively running shows in SL since the winter of 2013. We have been involved in many various events such as One Billion Rising, The MilkyWay Cabaret, Fantasy Faire, LEA, SL B and are honoured to have been part of the Fallen Gods annual celebrations the last couple of years and much more. During these years we have produced several new shows and been a part of various other festivals and celebrations.

Curious? Have a look at our pics in Flickr, subscribe to our blog or join The Dreamers group! Or get on our subscribo list to stay updated on our upcoming events. Want to book us for a show? Or are you burning for SL dance and want to join us? Speak to Aelva and she will weave some magic for you.

Let the Magic Begin…

(NOTE: This is Aelva’s performance group. I talked with her a few weeks ago, and you can read the article.)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Astrids%20Nemeton/119/247/61

1:00PM – Dance Variety Show @ LTW

The special event variety shows are a good opportunity to learn about a lot of different performers, choreographers, and groups at once. It’s like a salad bar, but every bowl is your favourite pudding.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/This%20Sim/94/161/2503

3:00PM – Harleyquin Workshop

Performance Director Class 3: Advanced, Making it Sing

You have the basics down – in this workshop we play with additional features and possible ways to use them! Load another routine note card, derez your set, other ways to use groups, starting animations….and anything else we can think of! We’re even going to touch on layering!

** Requires experience in creating a full PD routine

http://harleyquinadventure.com/

(NOTE: This is a class. I’ll talk more about classes in an upcoming article.)

3:00PM – Burlesque Dolls

Join us at the Jefferson Opera House for a day of teasing and tantalizing by some of the most talented dancers on the grid. Burlesque at it’s best. Now under the direction of Melina Aurotharius (semi-formal or formal dress please)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Aldo/113/67/3002

3:00PM – Monarchs

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO! It’s an article that you should read to learn more about Monarchs!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Monarchs/143/214/454

5:00PM – Avilion Mer Ballet

Avilion is a medieval fantasy community, home to dragon and drow, elven, land dwellers and winged fae, creatures of every kind and of course the merrow.

In addition to combat and role-play, Avilionians entertain their citizens with regular performances from the Avilion Merballet Company, Avilion Cameo Theatre and the Bards.

For 8 years the merballet has showcased the beauty and agility of the mer form more than 10 unique performances. Combining mer mystic and magic, we have made waves entertaining with this visually inspiring SL art form.

The Avilion MerBallet Company also performs to benefit Fantasy Faire, Relay for Life in Second Life and other charities.

Share this dream with us!

(NOTE: This group performs infrequently, so this is a good opportunity to catch them.)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Story%20Well/99/194/61

5:00PM – Phoenix Dance Team

(NOTE: They usually post descriptions at the last minute, so check their Facebook group.)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/This%20Sim/94/161/2503

7:00PM – Elysium Cabaret @ LTW

Featuring elaborate sets and choreography sequenced to an eclectic genre of music, Elysium Cabaret offers something for everyone. Grab your friends and get their early because the sim fills. Come celebrate Friday! Welcome to the weekend!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/This%20Sim/94/161/2503

7:00PM – Desire Arts

Desire Arts Dancers

Desire Arts Dancers do an “after hours” show. Starting at 7pm SLT on April 21st & 28th… we bring you the performance quality at our Saturday shows, with more skin… little less costume. Some acts do contain adult content.

As an “Arts” theatre (and gallery) Desire Arts will be a venue perfectly suited for SL Performers wishing to express themselves through live performances, through Dance, Art Exhibits, Performance Art as well as Dramatic Presentations.

Also, Presentations of a controversial nature (including those involving sex, politics and/or religion) will be presented separately from the Dance Program.

You can read the article with Path and Lotta here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hell%20Lust/174/78/21

Sunday, April 22

Elysium Cabaret - April 13 2018

7:00AM – Club IMAGE

(NOTE: Even when Club IMAGE repeats, it’s still a magical experience.)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Laem%20Singh/193/28/2021

10:00AM – Luxe Girls

The Luxe Girls have been entertaining the members of Elysion since 2015. Their shows are most often a mix of individual and group acts around a given theme. Each dancer chooses her music, builds her own set and choreographs her dance. This makes for an entertaining and eclectic mix of acts because each Luxe Girl has her own unique talents to bring to the stage every month.

Syn Beresford, owner of Elysion and Stage Mama to the Luxe Girls, hosts and DJ’s the shows as well as provides creative input and set design for many of the group acts.

The Luxe Girls will be returning to the Fantasy Faire this year with Le Cirque des Reves, their interpretation of Erin Morgenstern’s “The Night Circus”. Music and concept by DJ Lucid Hurricane with set design by Syn and the Luxe Girls and choreography and costumes by the Luxe Girls. This is a show you don’t want to miss!

(NOTE: Luxe is a group that usually performs at the private/paid Elysion estate, but it’s a rare treat to see them in an open access event like Fantasy Faire. What’s killing me is that Muse is doing Chicago at the same time, and Anu goes all-out too, so… Chicago has a second showing soon on May 6 at 10AM, but they fill the sim frequently. This one’s going to be tough.)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Story%20Well/99/194/61

10:00AM – Muse Dance Company

Chicago Musical by Muse Dance Company

Sunday April 22nd and Sunday May 6th at 10 am SLT

Join the Muse Dance Company for this dance musical Chicago. A satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the “celebrity criminal”. You don’t wanna miss this one!

Choreographed by Anu Papp and Cordelia Cerise. I chatted with Anu for an article a while back here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Whymsee/117/6/2019

11:00AM – Dazzlers

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/This%20Sim/94/161/2503

1:00PM – Debauche

Debauche return once more to the House Of Jana. New location, new theatre, same wonderful dance show.

It is always such a pleasure to perform here, always such a great crowd and a great atmosphere. Why don’t you come join us and see for yourself?

Debauche. A little naughty, a lot sexy and……ALWAYS CLASSY!!

(NOTE: Yay!)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chaton/193/102/903

1:00PM – Mynx Dance Academy

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/This%20Sim/94/161/2503

1:00PM – Red Hot Chili Pipers

The Chilli Pipers are Bagpipes with attitude. Drums with a Scottish accent. A blazing rock band and a show so hot it carries its own health warning. The Red Hot Chilli Pipers have been rocking the world from New York to Beijing with musicianship of the highest order and a passion for pipes that will leave you breathless. The Virtual Red Hot Chilli Pipers was established in August of 2009.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Astrids%20Nemeton/119/247/61

1:00PM – Sky Fire

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Story%20Well/99/194/61

3:00PM – DRUM

DRUM’s goal is to bring the world to you via the power of drumming. Our aim is to have fun and to create incredibly beautiful rhythms – live.

Members of the DRUM group have collaborated to create the unique sounds, drums, and animations that enable us to perform. Our performances are live and are subtly different each time – they are not pre-recorded music. The sounds are created right within Second Life. We then send them out and back in via stream in order to provide you with a lag free experience! We hope you enjoy our performances as much as we enjoy providing them.

Right now our performances consist of 10 different drum cultures, Taiko (Japanese), Native American, African, Latin, Indian, Mallets, Stomp Wall, Rusty Barrel, African Ghost, Brazilian, and Steel Pan drums. We are planning many new exciting sets for the near future!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Story%20Well/99/194/61

5:00PM – Ballet Pixelle

Ballet Pixelle – “Avatara”

Opening Sunday April 15th at 5 pm SLT and every Wednesday and Sunday at 5 through June 13

Ballet Pixelle® will open its production of “Avatara” on Sunday, April 15 at 5:00 pm SLT, Join us for this original composition of virtual dance! What if a real world dancer could dance in a virtual world? What movements would be the same or different? What kinds of different beings could she be? What would be the same? And how would that dancer be changed after her experience? Performances are Wednesdays at 5:00 pm and Sundays at 5:00 pm SLT throughout April in the Ballet Pixelle Theatre. Audience dancing at the after-show party every performance! Join us for an evening of delights. Chat with the performers and crew after the performance for autographs, photos, and a question & answer session.

Formal dress expected.

(NOTE: There’s something raw and organic and special about Ballet Pixelle. Retaining the hand-triggered method of performance makes each performance a cool kind of quirky and dadaesque. It’s a living experience, natural in a digital world. A fractal experience that embraces the lag and latency in a powerful way. I’m really hoping to cover them in an article here.)

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Quat/32/22/107

5:00PM – Winds of the Sahara

Winds is going to take you on a date tonight, want to go see a movie? (NOTE: If you’re a Don Hertzfeldt fan, the proper response is “I’m feeling fat and sassy!” Okay, back to the description.) We do too! We are all dancing to songs from the movies! Each dancer chose a song to dance to, taking their inspiration from the movies. We will delight your eyes and put some songs in your heads from Fifth Element, Copacobana, Risky Business, Xanadu, 50 Shades & Dolphins to name a few. It is sure to be a toe-tapping good time. We will even let you sneak in some candy, as long as you share with us! Come early for some pre-show dancing with us too. We will also have a 500L gift card from Insatiable Dreams to give away. Come join us for a Night At The Movies!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Aladona/124/193/2001


I assume there will be a few more shows this week… folks are just taking their time getting the notices in, finishing up their routines… that sort of thing. I’d prefer to error on the side of caution and just post the ones confirmed at press time.

Check with the Dance Queens event calendar for updates and additions to the weekend’s schedule, as well as the many events that happen during the week.

So, folks, is this useful? Let me know. Drop me an IM when you get to a show and that you enjoyed it.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I perform with Guerilla Burlesque and Debauche. Which leads to a funny story… I went to the Ballet Pixelle performance on Wednesday, and at the after party, people keep calling me Star. And I’m like “I’m not a star.” but it continues. Then the next day, when I try to rez something and I fail, I realize I don’t have the right group tag on. I’ve got “Debauche Star” on. I had it on during a rehearsal and forgot to change back. This is what happens when you turn off group tags and name tags in your viewer.

(NOTE: Yes, there are going to be a lot more NOTE rambles and digressions in my articles. Try not to start a flame war.)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/isfullofcrap/27611770288/in/dateposted/

(NOTE: Oops.)

2018 SL UG updates #16/2: Content Creator User Group

A rally of (Animesh) raptors on Aditi

The following notes are taken from the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting, held on  Thursday, April 19th, 2018 at 13:00 SLT.  The meeting is chaired by Vir Linden, and agenda notes, etc, are usually available on the Content Creation User Group wiki page.

Medhue Simoni Live streamed the meeting, and his video is embedded at the end of this summary. My thanks to him for providing it. Time stamps are included in the text below to allow easy referencing to the video for details.

Initially, the meeting opened on Aditi at the Animesh test regions.however, Voice issues across the beta grid regions resulted in the meeting decamping to the TPVD amphitheatre on Agni, and these notes reflect the meeting from that point onwards, starting at the 7 minutes 19 seconds point in the video.

Animesh Project

Project Summary

The goal of this project is to provide a means of animating rigged mesh objects using the avatar skeleton, in whole or in part, to provide things like independently moveable pets / creatures, and animated scenery features via scripted animation. It involves both viewer and server-side changes.

Project Viewer

The project viewer with the updated Animesh land impact / tri count formula was released on Monday, April 16th. Version 5.1.4.514468 also brings the viewer to parity with the current release viewer.

Vir’s provides a detailed explanation in the Animesh updated limits and cost formulas forum thread, However, in summary:

  • Animesh attachment limit = 1: only one Animesh object can be attached to an avatar at a time. This is unchanged from the original estimates.
  • Triangle Count Limit = 100,000: an animesh object (linkset) can have at most 100k triangles, where the count is based on the estimated size of the largest LOD (normally this is the high LOD). This includes all mesh triangles, static or rigged.
  • Land Impact: streaming cost = 15.0 + 1.5 * ktris + cost of non rigged prims: for a rigged mesh prim in an animesh linkset, the streaming cost will be 0.0015 * effective_tri_count – that is, 1.5 per thousand triangles. The value for effective_tri_count is derived from the estimated triangle count of the various LODs in the prim as follows:
    • High LOD: all of the estimated triangle count included in the effective_tri_count.
    • Medium LOD, Low LOD and Lowest LOD: the allowed number of triangles can be up to ½ of the LOD above, or 64, whichever is larger (i.e. Medium can be up to ½ of High, or 64, whichever is larger). If there are more triangles than this limit, that excess will be added to the effective_tri_count.
  • These values are also reflected in ARC (avatar rendering cost) calculations for Animesh items.

[7:23-8:43] The viewer also incorporates a change where it will automatically switch to skeleton based rendering for Animesh as soon as it detects the use of an avatar skeleton in an object, rather than waiting until an animation starts playing on an Animesh object in order to make the switch. It is hoped this will avoid issues between an Animesh object’s static and animated states, which can cause visual glitches when the animation based switch is made. It should also avoid potential exploits with people using multiple Animesh objects without necessarily animating them.

[9:13-9:32] It is believed the majority of bugs for Animesh are now in hand, however if any finds specific issues with the new impact calculations or with the latest project viewer in general, they are asked to file a JIRA bug report.

Rigged Mesh Level of Detail / Bounding Box Issues

Beq Janus has reported on issues with rigged mesh LOD issues related to the avatar bounding box. Essentially, attachments on avatars swap their LOD models as if they were scaled to the overall avatar Bounding Box. Some creators, deliberately or otherwise, force the bounding box to be far larger than is required, which then creates problems

For example, if an avatar bounding box is forced to 15 metres on a side, any rigged object worn by that avatar will swap LODs as if it were 15 metres in size, no matter how small, forcing viewers around it to use its highest LOD model unnecessarily (see BUG-214736 for more).

[8:44-9:12]  Graham Linden has been investigating these, as has some proposed changes which he and Vir hope to implement in the near future, the implication being these will be folded into the Animesh viewer.

Environment Enhancement Project (EEP)

Project Summary

A set of environmental enhancements, including:

  • The ability to define the environment (sky, sun, moon, clouds, water settings) at the parcel level.
  • New environment asset types (Sky, Water, Days – the latter comprising multiple Sky and Water) that can be stored in inventory and traded through the Marketplace / exchanged with others.
  • Experience-based environment functions
  • An extended day cycle (e.g a 24/7 cycle) and extended environmental parameters.

This work involves simulator and viewer changes, and includes some infrastructure updates.

Current Status

[10:35-11:05] Rider Linden has been involved in dealing with other issues, which have delayed progress on EEP. He hopes that with this worked cleared, he’ll be able to focus on getting the viewer updates out in a project viewer.

Continue reading “2018 SL UG updates #16/2: Content Creator User Group”