Electronic Traces, a concept created by Spanish designer Lesia Trubat, plans to turn real dance moves into viewable files.

By combining a pair of ballet shoes with e-textile microcontroller technology by LilyPad Arduino, the shoes register both the pressure and the movement of the dancer’s feet and then beams the data to an app.

The output that results from the futuristic footwear is reminiscent of elegant brush strokes. Almost a neon variant of a paintbrush sequence straight from Okami.

Parallels can also be drawn to the mobile game Bounden, made in collaboration with the Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet, where players in tandem use a phone’s smart gyroscope create a flow of ballet moves. But where as Bounden is to geared towards social interaction, E-TRACES is designed for teaching purposes.

Trubat’s plan is that these files can be used in educational scenarios, both for self-teaching and for classes. The videos can have stills printed from them, or the data can be presented graphically and compared between users.

Project by: Lesia Trubat

Photo credit: Lucía González / Marta Guillén