Use Gradient Ramp to Drive Animation

Is there a way to use a grey-scale gradient ramp to control animation based on the color data at a specific point?

For instance, if I had an array of spheres, then based on a gradient ramp that was "mapped" over the entire array, where the white areas of the gradient you create a position offset, and where there is black there is no offset.

This would be useful in using procedural maps to control the positional/rotational movement of an array of objects like dominoes, etc where motion is based on the gradient (or other procedural map) color at that point...Any help would be greatly appreciated.