The AI ballet 'Fusion' runs until July 8 at the Leipzig Opera House in Germany. Photo: AFP
The emergence and rapid progress of artificial intelligence programmess is shaking up the world of culture.
At a time when some fear that this technology will replace human creativity, the Leipzig Ballet is seizing the opportunity to stage the first ballet designed with AI.
The ballet in question is titled Fusion.
The Leipzig Ballet describes it as one of the first choreographed shows to use artificial intelligence as an inspiration for all of its aspects.
It was created by German choreographer Mario Schröder and composer Harry Yeff, better known as Reeps100.
This Briton strives to "push his voice beyond what we believe is possible," as he explains on his website.
For Fusion, Yeff used AI to expand his vocal range. He trained for over a thousand hours to transform his voice so that it sounds post-human.
"My voice is now augmented as a result of hundreds of hours of training with AI - I am able to reach speeds and depths I didn’t believe were possible. I am a living breathing augmentation, soon there will be many more of me," he told Wallpaper magazine.
In this ballet, Yeff brings his vocal dexterity to an eclectic soundtrack blending classical and electronic music, created in collaboration with the Syrian-Italian composer Gadi Sassoon.
The sounds he produces set the Leipzig Ballet dancers in motion, especially Yun Kyeong Lee and Vincenzo Timpa. Together, they encourage the audience to explore the close interaction between body and voice, as the Leipzig Opera explains.
The Fusion ballet will run until July 8 at the Leipzig Opera House in Germany.
This ballet illustrates how the world of opera, and more generally that of the performing arts, could make use of the recent prowess of artificial intelligence software in the creative process.
Prior to Fusion, this technology had already taken to the stage at the Lincoln Center, New York, with Song Of The Ambassadors, for which artist K Allado-McDowell crafted a performance combining music, science and technology with the help of GPT-3. - AFP
