What's Our Story?
The LIVE Center (The Center for Live Interactive Virtual Education) is a home for innovative virtual education solutions for the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
As the School of Dance and the College of Visual and Performing Arts learned to adapt to physical distancing requirements, the work of the LIVE Center was vital to ensuring high-quality education. Even as arts programs at Mason resume normal operations, it will continue to connect teachers from all over the world to Mason students.
In 2019, Dance Heritage professor Christopher d’Amboise saw a need for video conferencing that allowed for life-sized, full-body interaction. From this, the concept of the LIVE Center Window Wall™ was created: a teacher in a remote location could be projected live and life-sized onto the wall of a studio, while a live feed of the students are projected for the teacher.
This concept became the basis for the flagship initiative of the LIVE Center. By eliminating the barrier of distance, the Window Wall™ expands possibilities for virtual teaching, performances, and one-of-a-kind events.
The creation of the LIVE Center became imperative when the COVID-19 pandemic forced educators to change the ways they teach. The virtual nature of the Window Wall™, and the fact that it negates the problem of physical distance, has already allowed for safer physically-distanced classes to take place. A dance teacher in one studio can be projected into several studios at once, the dancers in each maintaining physical distance from each other.
School of Dance class being taught simultaneously in person and virtually. Serving students who are on campus as well as remote learners.
Achievements Within the First Two Years
- 4 studios daily served by the Window Wall™
- 1,200 hours of virtual and in-person education
- 33 performers 8 student choreographers appeared at Drive-in Dance Night
- 60 dancers and 21 student choreographers performed at Beyond the Stage
Beyond the Stage
Students and Faculty reserved chairs in front of the Performing Arts Building to watch original dance films projected onto two sides of the building. Showing 21 films over two evenings, the event celebrated student creativity and brought the Mason community together.
Drive-in Dance
This one of a kind performance event used a parking lot as a stage and invited audience members to park their cars and use their headlights to light the performers. Eight choreographers premiered their work with students dancing within the circle of cars. This unique opportunity allowed us to share live dance with a live audience in this safe and adventurous event.. i
Mission
The LIVE center will pioneer innovative new solutions for virtual education, connect leading artists to Mason, create original virtual curriculum, provide one-of-a-kind virtual education experiences as well as unique performance and special event initiatives.
Enhanced Virtual Experience
Utilizing the Window Wall, the Center will create a large scale, enhanced virtual teaching system giving professors and students the ability to interact from separate, remote locations in a life-size video conferencing experience.
Connecting Leading Artists to Mason
The Center will create opportunities for students to be taught by the world’s leading artists bringing them virtually to the Mason campus studios from New York City, Los Angeles, and other creative centers.
New ways of teaching
The Center will facilitate the development of new, innovative virtual curriculum. It will reimagine courses which were previously unable to be taught in a virtual platform due to space, image, and sound constraints.
Unique performance events
The Center will create innovative new performance and community building events utilizing the Window Wall system as well as creative special events and performances for students and the NOVA community.