in collaboration with
Maywa Denki and Aldebaran Robotics
After three years of pioneering research and development, the multi-faceted award- winning choreographer Blanca Li creates ROBOT – an innovative contemporary show, cleverly exploring the relationship between humans and machines. Highly intelligent and hilarious, ROBOT naturally attracts audiences of all ages while wowing the most discerning of dance and theater enthusiasts.
In collaboration with visual and musical artist Maywa Denki and Aldebaran Robotics, this multimedia production presents eight dancers sharing the stage with a live mechanical orchestra of self-playing instruments and seven cute, wacky robot humanoids, known as NAO, each equipped with multiple personalities.
“Day and night, at home and in the outside world, on earth and in the air, we live with and among machines of all kinds. Our memory is becoming artificial, our footprints tend to be only electronic and our identity is partly digital.
In ROBOT, I address the relationships between human bodies and artificial ones and questions such as: Where are the borders between ‘us’ and ‘them’? Can the most sophisticated machines stand in for humans and their relationship with Nature? Will the robots be capable of integrating the idea of creation one day? As machines become more and more complex, how will they complement our lives? What kind of society will arise from it?
On stage, I had to defy technology and create an original score to be performed by machines. My biggest challenge, however, was to convey the emotions and feelings of the NAO robots. The fragility and child-like imperfections of these small humanoids are magnified and conveyed to the audience while interacting with human dancers. For the first time, the idea of them becoming lovable and endearing companions in the near future is evident for the public at large.”
-Blanca Li ROBOT premiered at the Montpellier Dance Festival in 2013 and has been
performed in 100 theaters worldwide.
It will be performed for the first time in the USA at BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, New York, from June 9th to June 14th 2015. (Robot in NYC)
Blanca Li: Direction /Choreography
Tao Gutiérrez and Maywa Denki: Music Pierre Attrait: Scenic Design
Jacques Chatelet: Lighting Design Charles Carcopino: Video Design Thomas Pachoud: Robot programming
Dancers: Yacnoy Abreu Alfonso, Iris Florentiny, Geraldine Fournier, Yann Herve, Samir M’Kirech, Africa Manso Asensio, Margalida Riera Roig, Gael Rougegrez, Yui Sugano
Poster design : Juan Gatti
Touring and General Management by GAAP Bookings Ltd. www.thegaap.com
Please see more about about the show’s creative team and process at: http://blancali.com/en/event/99/Robot