In recent years’, digitization offered new opportunities for audiences to gain access to cultural heritage. Information about tradition, folklore costumes and dancing appears to be scattered throughout the internet or scarce, found only within books of the past. However, research efforts and scientific thinking focus on the development of experiential and play pedagogy to support and promote learning. The “Dress up, Dance and Dive into Culture (4DCulture)” project introduces an online portal for the purposes of education, information and entertainment and it will be addressed to fashion designers, textile engineers, professional dancers and students, scholars of Europe’s recent history, and, also, to people of all ages who are interested in all these fields. It is focused on building a virtual portal by providing a realistic visualization of ethnographic and folklore issues. The most innovative aspect of the project will be carried out by the virtual reality performance of digitally represented certain traditional dances of the selected region.
The project aims to:
• exceed the current methods of online teaching by making actual use of the virtual reality;
• aggregate state-of-the art knowledge and compile it in the form of a “folkloropedia”;
• offer new opportunities for self-paced and informal learning via the open access platform created by the project.
Project funding:
The European Union programme Erasmus+
Project results:
The project results include:
• A review of the traditional costumes linked to specific folklore dancing, results of which will be published in the form of both an open-source e-book and a “folkloropedia” database.
• 4DCulture Virtual Platform.
• 4D Representation: Virtual Reality application via motion capturing.
• MOOC: “Traditional costumes and dancing as part of cultural heritage”. MOOCs will include interactive elements and audiovisual materials.
• “4DCulture Multi-actor circular network” – a network composed of key players, public organisations and active citizens in the field of folklore, culture, traditional clothing and dancing.
Period of project implementation: 2022-02-28 - 2024-03-27
Project coordinator: University of West Attica (UNIWA)
Project partners: Kaunas University of Technology, Creative Thinking Development - CRETHIDEV, TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT DRESDEN, Virtual Campus Lda, Hellenic Dance Academy "Lygkistes", Trakia University
