Kent State’s fashion and dance programs are always looking to keep up with current industry trends. TV2’s Lauren Buchanan has more on how technology has connected fashion and dance…with an iPod app.

[bbrvideo width=”350″ float=”left” caption=”The Kent State fashion and dance departments have been hard at work connecting with technology.”]BBR_04_Buchanan_SARAapp[/bbrvideo]

Sophomore fashion design major Abby Steger has been designing clothing independently since she was 12 years old, but this semester she stepped out of her comfort zone. For the first time ever, Abby is working for a client.

That client is the Kent State Dance Department.

Steger was excited and nervous to embark on this adventure when she said, “Having to accomplish certain goals for someone else and someone else’s vision is much, much different than my own.”

The vision that Steger is a part of doesn’t just benefit her own resume, it benefits the Kent State School of Fashion. Steger has been mentored by Kent State Assistant Professor Margarita Benitez, who has taken an interest in fashion technology.

Steger and Benitez have put fashion and technology together to create dance costumes with L-E-D lights in them.

Kent State, along with other top fashion school around the world, are beginning to explore fashion tech.

Kent State is taking an innovative lead in its fashion education by connecting fashion and dance with technology.

You bet this affects dance as an art form.

Technology has connected fashion and dance with an iPod app called Synesthetic Augmented Reality Application or SARA.

SARA connects to wires on a dancer’s wrist. Then, the lights go off and the LED costumes come on. When the dancer moves, the app creates sound and the iPod itself can be used to reflect shadows on walls.

Dancers have had the chance to play with SARA in the classroom, but this is the first time that KSU dancers will actually perform with it.

This is truly a live performance because no performance will be the exact same.

According to Associate Dance Professor Kim Karpanty, other dance programs utilize more technology. She is ecstatic to lead Kent State in utilizing SARA outside of the classroom.

You will be able to see KSU’s SARA performance in Cleveland in the fall.

Success comes with stepping out of your comfort zone. Whether it’s designing a complex costume with limited skills or taking the stage with nothing but an iPod attached to your wrist.