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Want to dance like MJ? Get his patented shoes

M. Somasekhar

HYDERABAD, Nov. 29

WHAT has Michael Jackson, the pop music icon, got to do with patents? On the face of it, nothing perhaps. But wait, the teenage music heartthrob is a recognised innovator, whose dancing shoes have got a US Patent.

The clue to the American Pop star Jacksons magic feet, in addition to his gifted dancing skills, were the pair of shoes he designed along with two of his costume designers.

These special pair of shoes, it now transpires, gave the dancing sensation of the 1980s and early 1990s, the bounce and spring to pop out of the razzle-dazzle stage floor and seemingly into the audience, much to the ecstasy of the boisterous fans.

According to a US Patent listed in the name of the renowned musician and two others, the novel dancing shoes attaches to a stage to allow its wearer (the dancer) lean forward beyond the centre of gravity and create the desired visual affect.

Prior to this innovation in the late 1980s, stage performers used a variety of techniques like lighting, fog generators, laser lights, and large video screens to enhance the appeal of their live shows.

Interestingly, one of the co-inventors with Michael Jackson had incorporated dance steps in his recorded video performances, wherein he and other dancers would lean forward beyond their centre of gravity, thereby creating a visual effect.To create this e ffect, a set of cables connecting a harness around the dancers waist with hooks on a stage had to be tactfully done. This allowed the dancer to lean forward at the required degree.

However, there were several limitations to the dancers body movements.

The innovation of Michael Jackson, et al, overcomes the deficiencies of the cable system by providing specialised footwear and a moveable hitch or post to which it can be detachably engaged to, allowing the wearer (dancer) to lean forward on the stage be yond his centre of gravity. The hitch or post protrudes upwardly through the stage platform at a pre-determined time.

Unveiling this interesting bit of information, the Patent Facilitating Centre (PFC) of the Technology Information forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) also points at another related US patent.The innovation deals with the design of a specialised fo otwear for astronauts to counter zero gravity in space. The footwear can be detachably engaged with a rail fixed to a surface to aid the astronauts work in zero gravity environment.

What Michael Jacksons patent holds out is the promise that innovations and patents are not just the brainchild or handiwork of scientists and engineers, but are driven by needs and can come from anybody.

Even in India, where creative folk in the form of roadside artists, including magicians or sophisticated ones must also be making their own small innovations to make their shows captivating. How many of them have ever thought of protecting such ideas, as ks the PFC.

Are desi artistes listening?