Sony and D.LEAGUE Launch Initiative to Expand the Possibilities of Dance Through Technology
TOKYO, October 5, 2026 – Sony Corporation (“Sony”) and D.LEAGUE, Inc. (“D.LEAGUE”) will introduce a synchronization evaluation support system that is powered by Sony’s proprietary LYNXCOPE markerless motion capture technology for the 26-27 Season of D.LEAGUE’s professional dance league, which Sony supports as a sponsor. The system captures dancers’ movements with eight cameras installed at the venue, analyzes the synchronization of multiple dancers, and presents the results for judges’ reference together with video footage. Through this system, Sony and D.LEAGUE aim to provide objective information on performance synchronization and support judges in making expert assessments.
Through the application of this technology, Sony and D.LEAGUE aim to help dancers enhance their performances, showcase the appeal of dance to a wider audience, grow its fan base, and contribute to the further growth of the dance community and industry as a whole.
Features of the Synchronization Evaluation Support System
D.LEAGUE performances involve a wide variety of movements, including low body positions, complex poses, and rotations that take place under rapidly changing lighting conditions. Accurately capturing dancers’ movements from camera footage in such challenging conditions requires advanced human pose estimation technology. Drawing on data and expertise accumulated in the D.LEAGUE competition environment, Sony developed the technology and system to reliably track the movements and poses of multiple dancers. Because the system does not require dancers to wear dedicated markers or sensors, it can support judging without affecting the dancers' artistic expression, including costumes and choreography.
Introduction of the System in the 26-27 Season
“Performance Synchronization,” one of D.LEAGUE’s judging criteria, evaluates how well the performances of all eight members of each competing team are synchronized. The system is positioned as a tool to assist judges and will not determine the outcome of a match on its own. During the 26-27 Season, the judges responsible for performance synchronization will first observe the performance directly and then use the video footage and numerical data provided by the system as reference information. Throughout the season, Sony and D.LEAGUE will examine the consistency between the system’s calculated results and judges’ evaluations and consider how the system may be used in the future.
About LYNXCOPE Markerless Motion Capture Technology
LYNXCOPE markerless motion capture technology captures the movements of multiple people with high accuracy in real time without requiring them to wear markers, analyzing and converting those movements into digital data using Sony's proprietary AI model. By filming people from a variety of angles with multiple cameras, the technology can accurately estimate body movements, even when they appear to overlap from certain angles. The system configuration can also be flexibly scaled to accommodate the number of people tracked simultaneously and the size of the tracking area.
About Sony Corporation
Sony Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation and is responsible for the Entertainment, Technology & Services business. With the mission to “create the future of entertainment with creators through the power of technology,” Sony aims to fill the world with emotion.
About D.LEAGUE
Launched in Japan in 2020 with the mission to "change the world through dance," D.LEAGUE is a professional dance league in which world-class dancers compete across genres over the course of each season. In the 26-27 Season, 20 teams will compete in a two-block format comprising BLOCK HYPE and BLOCK VIBE. The teams will play a round-robin REGULAR SEASON, after which the top three teams from each block—six teams in total—will advance to the CHAMPIONSHIP to determine the SEASON CHAMPION.
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