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The aim here was to recreate a short segment from the famous 1912 production of Orpheus and Eurydice designed by Adolphe Appia and choreographed by Jacques Dalcroze, for insertion into the VR reconstruction of the Hellerau performance space on the Theatron website. The choreography was researched by Prof. Selma Odom, who also rehearsed the dancers. In the original performance the singers, hidden behind curtains, were separate from the dancers who portrayed the characters, which made it appropriate to use a recording of the opera as accompaniment to the scene selected. The style of movement had been researched extensively and reconstructed by Selma Odom for a previous video, directed by Richard Beecham at the University of Warwick. This same choreography was used here, and formed the basis for rehearsal.
However, the requirements of chromakey filming imposed unusual physical limitations, which forced some changes in the dancer's moves and positioning. In addition the VR reconstruction of the Hellerau hall had to be reconfigured: because the camera angle could only be directly in front of the dancers, the large square block representing Eurydice's tomb had to be positioned directly behind instead of to one side and down-stage. However in the event the spatial compression was strongly felt to be in fact a dramatic advantage, giving a far more concentrated emotional focus.
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