Guanajuato, Gto. The International Cervantino Festival (FIC), one of the most important cultural events in Mexico and Latin America, was inaugurated last night with the most representative of the guests of honor: Oaxaca and Brazil.
In its 52nd edition, the presentation of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo is considered one of the must-see shows of the artistic meeting.
With more than 40 years of experience in choreographic creation, Jean-Christophe Maillot, artistic director of the company, in his work Coppél-i.A. revitalizes the famous story of ETA Hoffmann, The Sandman, by exploring the world of automated machines in order to reflect on the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in modern society.
Regarding the staging of this production, which will be presented today and tomorrow at the FIC, Maillot indicates that as Coppélia comes from a traditional ballet, he was interested in giving it an update, because “it is important to find a connection between the traditional world and that of today . In that reinterpretation we talk about an automaton robot, and I incorporate that with AI, which is something current to give it a human meaning.
We try to imagine a world that perhaps in a few years will be replaced with robots; I’m not sure if the world is going in a very human direction, but I think we are slowly moving in a direction very far from humanity.
he adds.
The winner of the prestigious Benois Dance Prize in 2008, he has never stopped marveling at the body mechanics of dancers, which is why he turns to choreography to express himself through them and tell the story of Coppél-i.A., where a robot bursts into the lives of Franz and his fiancée Swanilda, raising doubts and confusion about the couple’s love.
“My job is always to stage what could happen in real life; Working with these dancers with acting skills makes every movement have an intention; I create the steps with the need to demonstrate an end and I have done this in other narrative ballets, such as Cinderella y Romeo and Juliet. My dancers must always feel the emotion: if he is in love, why is he in love; If you extend your arm towards a person, why do you do it. That is the main thing about my work: putting the essence of real life in the theater.”
Black and white
The French choreographer maintains that finding the balance between the traditional and the modern It has not been easy or difficult, necessarily, since we live in a world in which we all feel the things that exist around us, we work with classical dancers, they are people who live our time, therefore, we combine the two forms
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When referring to the particularities of his Coppél-i.A., Maillot explains that the set design of the two acts are abstract. “In the first we have the main actors on a completely white stage, as a symbol of the external, what is outside, the human light, something close to the perfect life, the sensitive, the happy; In the second act, everything is black, related to Coppelius, who tries to create this female robot that represents something dark and complex, as well as Coppél-i.A. and robots also try to be independent to go to the white side.”
Regarding the music, the director of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo comments that it is by Léo Delibes, but with arrangements by his brother Bertrand Maillot. He explains that AI was also used for the composition, in order to make you believe that we are listening to the original music, but totally transformed. It is rewritten with the purpose of making it sound like the original idea; So I asked Bertrand to amplify how to respond to those movements and feelings; In the end, he manages to extend the moments with music
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In the choreographer’s opinion, AI can benefit art in many ways, “first by accepting the idea that this technology has reached enlightenment; For example, it helps a lot with the complexity in which we live due to the machines that are very large, and in the video it can also be an interesting support.
I believe that AI can augment the body’s capabilities. Maybe, in the case of dancers, they would hurt themselves less, jump higher without breaking or lasting a long time; Those are the positive points of its use in dance, but the danger, and what scares me, is that they can create the first choreographer, that they feed him with all the ballet and with all the works that exist in history and ask him to create something totally new or incorporating all those elements. We already saw it in painting and in writing, but we don’t know when a choreographer robot may exist, and I think the good thing about that is that when it happens it will probably be dead, and I won’t be able to see it.
Coppél-i.A., with Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, is presented today at 8 p.m. and tomorrow at 12 and 6 p.m., at the State Auditorium of Guanajuato.
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