A Practical Approach to Using Motion Capture in Performance Dance

Markerless systems are becoming more ubiquitous due to their increased use in video games consoles. Cheap cameras and software suites are making motion capture technologies more freely available to the digitally inclined choreographer. In this workshop we will demonstrate the opportunities and limitations provided by easily accessible and relatively inexpensive markerless motion capture systems. In particular we will explore the capacity of these systems to provide useful data in a live performance scenario where the latency, size and format of the captured data is crucial in allowing real-time processing and visualisation of the captured scene

Common Ragweed: A Threat to Environmental Health in Europe

Common or short ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) is an annual herb belonging to the Asteraceae family that was described by Carl Linnaeus in the 18th century. It is a noxious invasive species that is an important weed in agriculture and a source of highly allergenic pollen. The importance placed on A. artemisiifolia is reflected by the number of international projects that have now been launched by the European Commission and the increasing number of publications being produced on this topic. This review paper examines existing knowledge about ragweed ecology, distribution and flowering phenology and the environmental health risk that this noxious plant poses in Europe. The paper also examines control measures used in the fight against it and state of the art methods for modelling atmospheric concentrations of this important aeroallergen. Common ragweed is an environmental health threat, not only in its native North America but also in many parts of the world where it has been introduced. In Europe, where the plant has now become naturalised and frequently forms part of the flora, the threat posed by ragweed has been identified and steps are being taken to reduce further geographical expansion and limit increases in population densities of the plant in order to protect the allergic population. This is particularly important when one considers possible range shifts, changes in flowering phenology and increases in the amount of pollen and allergenic potency that could be brought about by changes in climate.

"You Don't Have to be Filmish": The Toronto Jewish Film Festival

The Toronto Jewish Film Festival is a one-week celebration of Judaism and Cinema that occurs in downtown Toronto, at the Bloor Cinema, early every May. The folkloristic literature on festival notes that these kinds of events are ways that communities and groups celebrate themselves, and although film festivals are frequently excluded from consideration of traditional festivity, I shall demonstrate that such an omission is unfortunate, since like traditional festivity, film festivals, in particular ethnic film festivals, explore the same issues of liminality for the celebrating culture.

9 Lives of the Black Cat

This is a short essay included in the accompanying booklet for Arrow Video's Blu-ray collection titled "Edgar Allan Poe's Black Cats": The Black Cat (Lucio Fulci, 1981) & Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I have the Key (Sergio Martino, 1972)