Last Updated on March 19, 2026
The Uneasy Marriage of Dance and AI
2.0 out of 5.0 starsHands up all those who’ve read/heard of Shannon Vallon’s book The AI Mirror. No, me neither, and having watched Alexander Whitley’s new work, Mirror, which it has apparently inspired, I’m none the wiser.
I have seen wonderful work by this science-obsessed choreographer. Years later, I still recall with a sense of wonder Celestial Motion II, where, with the use of a special headset, I was transported to the very centre of the universe and watched dancers fleeting among the stars like fast, graceful comets bound for the sun. It lasted no more than eight minutes, but for that brief while I was dazzled by the seamless combination of virtual reality technology and pure dance.
All this to say that Alexander Whitley can harness the technology that so fascinates him, and equally importantly, that he fully understands, to enhance his primary vocation as a dance maker and produce bewitching work. Unfortunately, Mirror, and its companion piece The Rite of Spring, in the brand new double bill currently at Sadler’s Wells East, proved major disappointments.
A piece for two human dancers – Gabriel Ciulli and Daisy Dancer – and a variety of AI figures projected onto a downstage scrim and a screen at the back, it purports “to examine the risks that AI poses to human relationships when we form attachments to its reflections and mistake them for something deeper than they are.”
The two human dancers stood behind the scrim in a narrowing circle of light (predominantly dark lighting design by Joshie Harriette), which in turn was contained within thin neon columns marking the four corners of a square, and presumably part of the technological rigging. Their black and white all-in-one motion capture bodysuits with matching caps (set and costume design by Mirella Weingarten) looked drab, leaving me in doubt as to whether they were meant to signify figures of the near future, or just badly kitted out present-day humans. Their grounded pas de deux was very human, very loving, swaying together or away from each other, but never losing touch. It was harmonious, if not particularly inventive, choreography.
Gradually, though, virtual figures were projected onto the scrim, and eventually, too, on the upstage screen. At first, just outlines of human bodies, as the work progressed, they filled out to become individuals, their movement at times the result of live motion capture mimicking that of the actual humans they surrounded.
All this developed to a nerve-shredding electronic cacophony authored by Galya Bisengalieva, who is described as “a powerful force in new and primordial music”.
And it went on for close on to one painful, dragging, frankly self-indulgent, inconclusive hour.
After that aural torture, Stravinsky’s dissonances sounded sweeter than ever. The Rite of Spring is undoubtedly one of the absolute masterpieces of the 20th century, and ever since its scandalous premiere in 1913 Paris, it’s proved catnip to all manner of choreographers, with Pina Bausch coming perhaps closer to the composer’s intention in her 1975 visceral portrayal of primitive tribal rites culminating in human sacrifice.
It’s a brave man who follows in such distinguished footsteps, but Alexander Whitley dares to go there with mixed results. As the sun slowly rose on the back screen, five dancers – Ciulli and Dancer joined by Nafisah Baba, Natnael Dawit and Elaini Lalousis – congregated centre stage around a bundle of hanging ropes, costumed in rough flesh coloured unitards, with matching caps. They went slowly about their business, which didn’t involve much dancing. Stravinsky’s music sounded.
I am convinced the score we heard is not The Rite of Spring we’re used to; it sounded as if it had been chopped and rearranged, but there is no credit for the recording we heard, so I’m none the wiser.
In any case, there were striking sequences in this piece, where the screen at the back suddenly became a vast, slightly tilted arena peopled by a multitude of figures, now in lines, now in circles, their AI choreography intensely beautiful and effective, but not really related to anything else. Plaudits to creative technologist Luca Biada, but not to the dramaturg. The human sacrifice proved a damp squib.
I feel the undoubtedly talented Alexander Whitely would perhaps benefit from actually following his own advice in Mirror and taking a step or two back from his beloved technology to lavish a little more TLC on his choreography for humans. He’s shown he can do it.
Alexander Whitley Company, The Rite of Spring/Mirror is at Sadler’s Wells East, 18 – 21 March
Sadler’s Wells East
Stratford Walk
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
London E20 2AR
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