The Music Center collaborated with Pilobolus and MIT to bring an interactive art exhibit to Jerry Moss Plaza where members of the public will help create the living art exhibit. (photo courtesy of Pilobolus)

In collaboration with dance company Pilobolus and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Music Center will present “UP! The Umbrella Project” at 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 21-23.

The free community arts and participatory learning experience is designed to connect strangers through a shared focus on movement, shape and beauty.

Participants will become part of the creative process in a large-scale, live nighttime event using LED umbrellas.

Based on prompts, participants will create different configurations by changing the colors of their umbrellas, showcasing a shifting landscape of brightly colored figures within a one-hour session. The umbrellas are specially designed by MIT students and staff to change colors in collaboration with the change in figures.

The Music Center’s large LED screens on Jerry Moss Plaza will display the colors, patterns and shapes so participants can see their movements as they make them in real time. The event is appropriate for ages 9 and older.

Since 1971, Pilobolus has tested the limits of human physicality to explore the beauty and the power of connected bodies.

The company reaches beyond performance to teach people how to connect through designed live experiences and expert storytelling that teaches diverse communities how to maximize group creativity, solve problems together and generate joy throughout their community with the power of nonverbal communication.

The company works with various communities to create live performance, film and digital media that is adventurous, adaptive, athletic and revealing of beauty in unexpected places.

“UP!” was created in a collaboration between Pilobolus and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT.

For those interested in how the project came together, Pilobolus Artistic Director Matt Kent and Daniela Rus, director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, will illuminate the story and science behind their collaboration with a virtual conversation at 6 p.m. on Oct. 19.

As part of The Music Center’s community engagement and education programs, dance students from The Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts and Straight Up Abilities will work with Pilobolus artists to create a routine using the technology. They will   then perform their routine at 5 p.m. on Oct. 23 at Jerry Moss Plaza.

Attendance to all events is free, but reservations are required for the 60-minute experience.

Timed-entry participation must be reserved in advance, and space is limited to the first 100 guests per session.

Although the event is held outdoors, masks will be required. For information, visit musiccenter.org/up.