Submitted by Mike Grenville on Thu, 19 Aug 2004 16:47

The audience at a dance performance in London's Trafalgar Square this Sunday will be invited to direct the outcome live by Text Message.

Texterritory2 is a performance in three episodes showing an afternoon in the life of Grace Campbell who has arranged to meet her date, Jerome, in Trafalgar Square. The story is told through text messaging, dance and music and is part of Fast Forward – the showcase of London’s creativity and diversity. Using text messaging, the audience can steer the direction of Sheron Wray's solo performance, and also contribute to the performance.

Sheron was awarded a NESTA fellowship in 2003 to investigate the relationship between technology and audience participation.

Sheron Wray says "It’s great to see Texterritory alive and kicking in Trafalgar Square, more than 15 times bigger than our last show. I’m fascinated and excited to see how such a large audience participates with us via text message and how that compares with a more intimate setting. By using texting we also appeal to a wider audience who may not traditionally be interested in dance and there’s nowhere better to see that in action than a huge venue like Trafalgar Square!"

Helen Keegan, MD BeepMarketing, says: “During last year’s performances, we experimented with how texting allows the audience to respond to questions with simple answers and also to express their feelings about the performance in their own words. The performance in Trafalgar Square allows us to do this on a much grander scale and start to experiment with the technology even more to engage the audience both during and beyond the show. This should make the performance more interesting for brands to get involved with in the future.”

Other partners in the project include Fleeta Siegel (technology director), BA London Eye, fre.org, Future Physical, Nesta, Amplified, Kodime and the London Studio Centre.

www.beepmarketing.com

www.texterritory.com

More about the event London Mayor

A Quicktime video clip from the BBC