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You can do a lot of things online: research a paper, sell a product, meet new friends, find a job, shop for groceries, maybe even meet the love of your life. But dance?

Early in 1996, Lisa Marie Naugle, a veteran dancer and choreographer with more than 20 years experience in the performing arts, asked herself "Why not dance on the Internet?"

"It's always been my nature to explore. At that time, I didn't know that it could be done on the Net. I didn't know of anyone who was doing online dance at that time," said Lisa. "But the Internet lends itself to the sort of artistic expression that I wanted it supports metaphor, real time video, interactivity. I wanted to communicate through improvisation and the Internet lets you do that".

Throughout her 20-year career as a dancer, Lisa has demonstrated her art as a performer, a choreographer, and as the owner of her own dance troupe. She says, "I was greatly influenced by the art scene in Greenwich Village (New York City) in the '60's as well as by the work of choreographers Alwin Nikolais and Merce Cunningham, who are said to be the Fathers of Modern Dance."

At the time she first began considering the Internet as a medium, Lisa was enrolled as a PhD candidate in New York University, and was researching the possibilities for dancers and other artists to use the Internet to collaborate on projects.

However, fate got in the way as it sometimes does. In 1996, a blossoming personal relationship dictated a move to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She pitched her idea of teaching dance over the Internet to Simon Fraser University (SFU), and was rewarded with their enthusiastic acceptance of the idea. The world's first online dance course, Dancing in Cyberspace, was born.

"I never went into it asking whether it could be done," said Lisa, "I always said 'Let's proceed and see what happens, let's see where it takes us.'"

Lisa's online students choreograph dance movement using LifeForms, a 3D software tool specialized for animating human movement. (LifeForms is used by 3D animators, choreographers of dance, sports and stunts, multimedia content creators, film pre-viz animators, game designers and educators).

The software-generated movements are posted to the project's Web site, allowing online participants to retrieve the latest version of the project and to effectively collaborate with team members from around the world.

When teaching dance the traditional way, students and teacher must be physically present in the classroom or studio together. Although the concept of using computer software to teach choreography is not a new one, traditional methods have meant that corroboration among participants is limited due to the localized nature of computer workstations.

However, when the Internet is used as a medium, doors open to amazing new possibilities. Now, for the price of tuition plus a home Internet connection, a student living in rural Nebraska can work with team members from the Australian outback, Paris or New York -- anywhere there is Internet connectivity.

An interested colleague came on board to assist with Web site development and other technical assistance. Lisa favored a "hands-on" approach regarding the site itself. She remarked, "The visuals are supplied by myself, from my library -- I was involved in writing the content, I was involved in developing the Web site -- I was very active in every stage of the development and design."

Dancing in Cyberspace was advertised and promoted by the SFU; 20 students from all over the world signed up to participate in the initial offering.

Lisa said, "The cost of developing this course is almost impossible to estimate. The actual hours spent in the creation of Dancing in Cyberspace far exceeded the budgeted amount. We're like everyone with a dream and a vision we ended up putting in a lot of volunteer hours to get it up and running."

Soon after moving to Canada, an opportunity arose for Lisa to apply her art to yet another Internet project. Despite the time constraints stemming from doing PhD work, instructing and researching at SFU and maintaining a personal life, Lisa volunteered her time to develop the dance component of the Cassandra Project, a bleeding edge demonstration of performance named after the Cassandra of ancient myth.

The Cassandra Project involves real time participation of dancers, musicians, composers and poets whose performance is broadcast live over the Internet through the use of video cameras and CuSeeMe video- conferencing software. CuSeeMe is software developed at Cornell University for the purpose of video conferencing on the Internet.

In a typical performance, Lisa and her dancers perform alone in a studio, without audience or on-site music. Their dance is broadcast over the Net to the music studio in New York, where musicians observe the dancers and provide musical accompaniment. In turn, Lisa's dancers can see the musicians and hear their music.

Poets, writers and actors from Europe or other participating locations contribute writings, dialogue and poetry through interactive Web pages. The spontaneous poetry or writings are posted to the Web site using the forum or message board provided for that purpose.

Lisa mused, "The technology becomes an extension of the dancer, the same way that a violin becomes an extension of the violinist. I manipulate the camera angle, the software settings to create the soft of effect I want at the moment.

"When I dance, for instance, I may suddenly feel inspired to move behind the video camera and zoom in for a close up of one of the other dancers," she continued.

"Then a poet somewhere may feel moved by some aspect of the dance or music, and may react by spontaneously posting his feelings or his impression on the Web site; the poet's writing may then inspire the musicians to play a certain theme -- our dance influences the performance of the other artists, and their performance influences us. It's highly improvisational, highly interactive."

According to Lisa, it was a particularly moving experience for the dancers the first time they broadcast their dance to a live audience in New York. At the end of the dance, the performers bowed to the video camera in response to audience applause being broadcast over the Net.

How successful are these projects? Lisa admits to mixed feelings. "There are always things that could have been done differently or better when I look at it from different points of view. Still, there are more benefits than struggles. It's good that this work is on the Net and documented for historical purposes.

"I'm happy about the support I received from many people; I'm extremely happy that I had so many students, and that the Internet let me reach students who otherwise may not have had the opportunity to experience the art and the learning.

"I'm also happy about the Cassandra project. Without the Internet, this sort of project could not have happened. Video conferencing was possible before the Internet came along, but the cost put it out of the price range of ordinary people. And I'm really surprised at how much mileage can grow out of a project like this if you pursue it."

As for the future, Lisa hopes to complete her PhD dissertation, establish her own dance group in Vancouver, and continue to investigate computers as a way of interaction between people and machine.

She hopes the Web will be seen as a real option for people developing the arts, and that there will be more availability, more computers in public spaces for use at affordable prices.

"But equally important is the need to keep a balance. There should be outdoor spaces that don't have computers. We also need to experience life that isn't mediated by machines."

Information:

• Dancing in Cyberspace promotion page
  
• Dancing in Cyberspace course pages
  
• http://www.sfu.ca/~naugle
  
• http://www.nyu.edu/pages/ngc/ipg/cassandra/
  
• naugle@sfu.ca