Sevillian dancer Laura Morales returns to the stage after an unexpected retirement. Far from the hustle and bustle of theaters, she trained as a shepherdess in the northern mountains of Seville. She now presents a show that fuses flamenco with transhumance, narrating the personal crisis that led her to swap ballet slippers for field boots.
The technology behind the sheep step 🎵
To recreate the movement of flocks, Morales has worked with a team of sound engineers. They have developed a system of pressure sensors on the stage that synchronizes her steps with a database of bleats and cowbells. The software, programmed in Python, analyzes the dancer's weight and speed to project 3D sheep shadows. The result is a precise choreography that prevents floor wear.
The shepherd who lost the flock in the dressing room 🐑
During rehearsals, Laura confessed that the hardest part was not mastering the dance, but preventing the virtual sheep from escaping through the stage trapdoor. A technician had to redesign the projection system after discovering that the cowbell shadows were being confused with those of her dog, which follows her everywhere. At least, she says, she no longer has to pick up droppings from the set.