Interactive Lighting and Sound Design Controlled by Baton Twirling

In this thesis, I combine my passion for baton twirling choreography, improvisation, and performance with my passion for theatre lighting and sound design technology. I developed a performance system centered around a baton which has been augmented with sensors, capturing its movements; these sensors send data via WiFi to a computer connected to a lighting network and a generative sound composition software, changing music and theatrical lighting looks based on the real-time movements of the baton. To demonstrate my work, I design and present a public performance to showcase the capabilities of the baton. Future work includes creating a flexible, scalable version of the system to be portable for multiple venues and to include more advanced lighting responses such as controlling motorized, moving lights, and collaborating with audio and media artists to generate more performances with different sound and media.