Overview
The Department of Dance at Case Western Reserve University premiered Quest: The Legacy of the Odyssey, a groundbreaking dance production that redefined the boundaries of live performance. This ambitious work, created by Gary Galbraith – Artistic Director of Dance, merged ancient Mayan mythology with cutting-edge spatial computing and AI technologies, including Quanergy’s 3D LiDAR tracking, Microsoft’s HoloLens, 3D-audio surround sound, and holographic visuals.
The result? An immersive, world-first experience that invited the audience to step directly into the mythic narrative, blurring the line between viewer and performer.
The Challenge
Galbraith’s creative ambition was to take audiences beyond traditional stagecraft to place them within the story of Quest, a tale of resilience and vengeance inspired by the Popol Vuh, the Mayan creation myth. To achieve this, the team had to:
• Deliver a synchronized, real-time immersive experience to nearly 100 audience members.
• Track performer movement with millimeter accuracy across a dynamic stage.
• Seamlessly merge live choreography with responsive holographic elements.
• Synchronize audio, lighting, and visuals in response to performer gestures.
Traditional production tools were insufficient for the task.
The Solution: Spatial Intelligence Meets Storytelling
To make this visionary performance possible, the creative team integrated a multi-technology system:
• Quanergy’s AI-powered 3D LiDAR location tracking enabled precise, real-time motion capture of performers, driving dynamic changes to lighting, sound, and holographic visuals.
• Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality headsets, worn by every audience member, projected volumetric 3D imagery directly into the performance space, including digital trees, fireflies, and mythological props.
• 3D-audio and surround sound created an immersive soundscape tuned to each viewer’s position and perspective.
• Traditional stage projection was blended into the experience for visual layering and ambience.
This sophisticated fusion allowed the stage to react to dancers in real time, turning choreography into a control interface for the entire production environment.
Innovation Highlights
•LiDAR-driven interaction allowed movement to trigger holographic changes, directional audio shifts, and environmental lighting, expanding the dancer’s expressive power.
• Largest group HoloLens experience ever staged, with every audience member immersed in a shared mixed reality environment.
• Narrative depth was enhanced as audiences became part of the world, not just spectators of it, inside the holographic mythos, seeing and hearing what the performers experienced.
•Original score by award-winning composer Gabriel Jon Griswold, combining electronic and acoustic elements tailored for 3D spatial audio delivery.
Results & Audience Impact
Audience members described Quest as:
“Mesmerizing… like stepping into a world of myth and light.”
“A fully immersive narrative where dance, music, and visuals were inseparable.”
“Unlike anything we’ve ever seen on stage.”
For dancers, the experience was transformative. Movement no longer served just expression; it became a trigger for action, for transformation, for storytelling. As one performer put it:
“Instead of performing for the audience, it felt like we were in the story, part of something bigger.”
Customer Feedback:
“This is a first-of-its-kind application, developed in collaboration with experts from physics, holography, and other disciplines. By combining immersive visualization with surround sound and integrating LiDAR to spatially move audio, we’ve created a truly unique and immersive dance theater experience.”
Conclusion: Performing Arts Meet Spatial Computing
Quest at Case Western wasn’t just a performance; it was a technological leap. By integrating LiDAR spatial tracking with holographic visuals and immersive audio, the production broke new ground in how dance, myth, and tech can merge into a singular artistic expression.
This case stands as a shining example of how LiDAR can extend beyond security and automation, empowering creative disciplines like performing arts to reach new dimensions of engagement, control, and expression.
Learn more here: Vimeo
