yooform

formatting dances is the most tedious and inefficient part of my choreographic process. in the past, most of the planning happened in static images of formations, so there was no way to visualize the live transitions between them while planning. and since i'm working directly with the dancers at this stage, there is a greater risk of collisions between formations. this app was built to avoid those issues, while adding features that static diagrams can't offer.

the core of the app is a stage canvas. dancers are placed and dragged into position, and each formation and transition is given an adjustable time block, so the piece can be played back in time with the music. for each transition, the paths dancers take to their next formation can be guided manually using nodes.

exporting has a few options depending on the audience. to share with other app users for their own adjustments, files export as .yoo, a formatted .json. for sharing with dancers, .mp4 gives them the formations in time, while a .pdf contains each formation alongside its corresponding notes.

it's built with electron, so it runs as a native windows app rather than something tied to a browser tab. yooform is actively used for my choreography this year, and has significantly improved my process. all code is available and is linked on this post.