The video with the avatar plays with the dissonance between human and nonhuman in interesting, potentially productive ways. The movement sequence is the same as with the skeletal avatar; however, this time the mudras/hand gestures are coded in, adding for an additional layer of communicative finesse. The avatar has taken on a more specifically embodied form; it appears to be gendered male, with a Southeast Asian ethnicity, and wears a tight black shirt and pants with buttons and pink/red cuffs at the end of the sleeves. The avatar has a face, but it is completely expressionless (and perhaps somewhat unsettling when its face stares directly out at the audience). It is especially interesting to note that this is a male avatar selected by a female performer to represent her own dance; though this particular avatar was chosen for means of availability and ease in composing [check w/Kaustavi], this choice also speaks to the dancer’s ability to choose from a range of options of how to present herself to the viewer, beyond what costuming or makeup choices might allow. With this version of the video, visual salience has been increased to communicate more information along with space and gesture; if the dancer’s goal is to draw the audience’s attention to motion alone, this avatar representation potentially competes with this goal. This video representation is largely the same as the previous avatar representation. However, what have been added are primarily still images in the background (and some integrated with the dancer’s dance) that provide visual interpretations of the dance’s narrative and symbols: a painted hand; a lantern; a sketch of a mudra; a peacock, another mudra, a woman in a garden; spring flowers; a statue of a dancer; an illustration of a woman in a garden; cattle; a temple sculpture; a stylized face; spring flowers; and a temple sculpture. As they stand arranged now, it is difficult for an audience not familiar with the gestural vocabulary and narrative tradition of Odissi to understand the precise meanings of the images; however, they provide a general sense of the story-space being danced into existence through the performance. Due to their large prominent placement, the still images tend to distract attention away significantly from the performer and communication via motion-based channels alone, placing the greatest emphasis on static visual channels (rather than gestural, though with some attention to spatial based on varying placement and 3D orientation). What is perhaps most interesting is the image of the lantern near the beginning—the only image that is integrated into the motion of the dance itself, as the avatar sketches out its progression across the screen with its hands. This moment indicates the possibility for the still images to complement rather than distract from the movements in providing visual interpretations of the poses and gestures—a possible tool for educating unfamiliar audiences more effectively on the gestures’ narrative meanings