`README.md`

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# Scarlet Riverboat Masquerade — An Animated Gallery

A single-file generative canvas gallery: a fantastical paddlewheel riverboat
glides through a hand-painted crimson canyon at dusk while masked dancers fill
three decks and animals loop along the shoreline. Every movement is **authored
visual rhythm** — a cadence written into the drawing loop — **not** audio
analysis. There is no sound.

## Run
Open `index.html` in any modern browser. No build, no dependencies.

## What you can steer
- **Cameras** — Wide River · Deck · Overhead
- **Sliders** — Visual Tempo · Lantern Glow · Crowd Density · Animal Visibility
- **Toggles** — Pause/Play · Restart · Reduced Motion · Motion Trails
- **Chapters** — I Departure · II Moon Bend · III Dawn Landing
  (palette *and* choreography change between them; the boat also drifts
  through them on a gentle auto-journey until you pick a chapter yourself)

## Keyboard
`Space` play/pause · `R` restart · `M` reduced motion · `T` trails ·
`1/2/3` cameras · `← →` chapters · `L` museum label. Focus states are visible
throughout; a live region announces state changes for screen readers.

## Choreography (original visual language)
- Couples pivot in shared arcs beneath the lanterns (lower deck)
- A linked circle turns about the smokestack (middle deck / overhead)
- Soloists spin trailing scarves; musicians appear only as abstract silhouettes
- Shoreline: a trotting fox, a slow-stepping heron, a squash-and-stretch
  rabbit, and a bear conducting fireflies — each a distinct weighted loop

No band logos, album art, or borrowed emblems — an original homage to the
communal, exploratory spirit of the scene.