CLEO merges coded choreography and motion capture into an interactive digital opera, a project where contemporary dance meets creative technology.
Set in a Berlin-inspired virtual world, the experience combines real-time 3D animation, immersive design, and interactive storytelling, reimagining performance as an evolving digital experience.
For ROCANI, this was an opportunity to explore movement beyond the physical stage, blending human expression with algorithmic precision in an immersive digital experience unlike anything before it.
The project began with a bold idea from choreographer Lior: to build programmable choreography through motion capture. Five dancers were recorded performing distinct sequences, each beginning and ending on identical poses for seamless integration. Their movements became data — the raw material for CLEO’s digital body.
We translated this into an interactive 3D character of Cleopatra, fusing historical reference with Berlin’s raw, futuristic energy. The result was a figure that embodied both the mythic and the modern, where dance became code and code became motion.
Our creative direction used 3D modelling and motion design to blend artistic instinct with technological innovation, creating a choreography that could shift, merge, and evolve in real time.
To give CLEO a world of her own, we developed an expansive virtual stage set in space, a digital performance environment inspired by Berlin’s club culture.
Strobe effects, smoke, and dynamic lighting created the rhythm of a night that never ends, while immersive web design and dynamic camera systems allowed viewers to move freely across the opera’s four acts. Each act unfolded like a different dimension of the same story, using interactive storytelling to give users control over their perspective.
The environment became both stage and character — a living reflection of the music, the movement, and the code behind them.
CLEO stands as a rare fusion of creative technology, choreography, and cinematic storytelling. It transforms performance into a participatory, interactive 3D environment, where users explore dance as motion, architecture, and emotion all at once.
Using motion capture, 3D animation, and digital experience design, the project redefined what a virtual opera can be. It is not a recording of a performance but a performance that lives in real time.
Working on CLEO reminded us how curiosity drives creation. It challenged us to see code as choreography and the digital stage as a space for feeling, not just form.
For ROCANI, this project captured the essence of leading brands — and ideas — across digital frontiers, treating technology as a medium for art, movement, and emotion.
CLEO became a reminder that innovation doesn’t replace human expression; it expands it, giving performance new ways to exist and audiences new ways to experience it.
For similar projects exploring movement, storytelling, and the intersection of art and technology, see Viva La Labia, Outreach and Khaby Lame.
- Creative & Technical Director Romano Casellini
- Creative Technologist Miqueas Aguilar
- Graphic & Character Design Paul Putzar | PPP
- Concept & Choreography Lior Schneior | Berlin Moves
- Motion Capture On Point Studios
- Composition & Musical Arrangement Hisato Tsuji
- Client Berlin Moves