Although the skeletal body manages to limit the influence of written language on the dancing body, I feel dissatisfied with the complete erasure of the face. I start this process in the Fall of 2014 when I take my first Motion Capture class to learn the software to create 3D animation using human movement. As mentioned before, I continued my association with motion capture technology beyond the scheduled courses through independent studies with Vita and constant guidance in understanding motion from my adviser through the Fall of 2016. It was only in the Summer of 2016 that Vita mentioned that ACCAD had prototyped facial capture, a process I secretly yearned in my heart. I believe it is the sleight of the Mahari to refuse the absence of her strong point. The Mahari expresses, communicates, emotes, and mimes through her facial muscles linking the mimetic to the devotional while creating an aura of sincere connection. It is grossly absent in the skeletal version of the Odissi body, a situation that causes a great deal of discomfort in me while disregarding the most important contribution of the Mahari. I would like to remind my audience that I strongly oppose the narrative expressivity by Odissi dancers performing as the Mahari since they make the her relevant only through their translation, a violence that I hope to forego. However, not engaging with her expression is simply to deny her artistic lineage. Facial capture of my Abhinaya or expressive faculty presents one solution that the Mahari herself makes possible as one fine morning in the Fall of 2016, Vita tells me the availability of facial capture thus fulfilling my unstated wish to her.
The default model of a bald male guy in the Motionbuilder software recreates my expression that is captured in full motion by a heavy and bulky head gear.
The bulky instrument was so heavy in the front that they had to improvise and attach a paper weight tied in a plastic bag behind my head to stop the slipping of my headset. I think of my Tahia, a fragile headset that I wear during an Odissi recital. Made out of wood-pulp, it has to be worn with care and precision because applying the incorrect amount of force to slide it around the hair bun will simply break it. In stark contrast to the fragile Tahia, the helmet I wear for the facial capture weighs enough to make me claustrophobic after about a minute of expressional dancing. In any case, as the picture denotes, I look like a sci-fi character straight out of the dystopian future although with the cultural traces of curvilinear eastern Indian aesthetics.
A thorough analysis of the facial capture shows a controlled set of subtle codified facial expressions of the animated figure. The face is never in stasis. The smile, the eyebrow raise, the wrinkling eyebrow, the constant eye-motion, the smile, and the moving lips are some of the features of the face. Like the rest of the body, the facial data holds the ability to morph, repeat, multiply, and break the linearity of the narrative.