Composed by choreographer Alisdair McIndoe, Plagiarism offered a new show each night guided by algorithmically generated prompts and driven by the creativity of 10 outstanding contemporary dancers.
The piece premiered at Arts Center Melbourne as part of Melbourne’s Now or Never 2024 festival and utilized an AI system to generate instructions for dancers to respond to throughout the 60-minute show. With unique performances each night and multiple ways for audience participation, Plagiary effectively commented on the interplay of text and dance, artistry and technology.
Throughout the performance, audience members had the choice of following AI prompts on an on-stage screen or wearing “stealing glasses” that hid the text. For added enjoyment, individuals can choose to wear a headset with two channels. One has a computerized voice reading the prompts (what the dancers hear), and the other features additional live commentary about the performance.
While AI provides prompts for the dancers, elements around Plagiary have been carefully selected to provide a valuable experience each night. From the moment we came into Fairfax Studios, the audience was part of the performance, watching 10 dancers warming up behind a transparent screen and moving around racks of clothing. Macindoe’s set design and Andrew Treloar’s costume design continued to work well together throughout the evening.
You’d expect a show with algorithmically generated instructions for dancers to be stiff, robotic, and gimmicky, but the prompts frequently generate laughs. And despite often ridiculous instructions like “Let your movement spark spontaneous interaction” and “Let’s bridge the realms of chaos and harmony through dynamic contrasts,” all 10 dancers have a profound He demonstrated improvisational skills, demonstrating both an artistic personality and a clear connection to his surroundings.
Plagiary deftly transitioned from an off-the-cuff format to a masterfully executed “interview” between the two dancers.
While the interviews took place behind a transparent screen, the remaining eight dancers continued to react to the AI in the performance space until the two disparate elements blended seamlessly.
During the opening night show, Martha Graham, the “mother of modern dance,” appeared on screen as her spirit took over the bodies of her interviewees to choreograph “The Prism of Martha Graham.” Graham’s influence on contemporary dance is evident in the dancers’ movements, and Prism commented that the distinction between mere influence and plagiarism is blurred.
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Plagiary showed that despite using technology as a linchpin, humans can respond creatively to AI, but AI cannot yet replace human creativity.
Plagiary will be performed at Arts Center Melbourne from 28 to 31 August as part of Now or Never Festival 2024, and at the Sydney Opera House from 12 to 14 September as part of UnWrapped 2024. Ru.
