As part of the Getty-led PST ART: Art & Science Collide Festival, Caltech Opening Doors series presents Invertigo Dance Theatre performing Turing Tests, Apples, and Queens: Collective Storytelling Through Fairy Tales and Artificial Intelligence at the Beckman Auditorium on December 6 and 7, 2024 at 8:00 pm. This program was especially created for Caltech on the occasion of PST ART. Written and Choreographed by Invertigo Founder Laura Karlin, Turing Tests, Apples, and Queens: Collective Storytelling Through Fairy Tales and Artificial Intelligence features sections from Karlin’s full-evening length work Formulae & Fairy Tales which premiered in 2019 at BroadStage. You can read the review at LA Dance Chronicle HERE. Tickets are on sale now at https://ci.ovationtix.com/36761/production/1198841
“Turing Tests, Apples and Queens: Collective Storytelling Through Fairy Tales and Artificial Intelligence, is an evening of math, sex, fairy tales, laughter, and death. The dance-theatre work is about the life of Alan Turing, mathematical genius and World War II codebreaker, and the technicolor mythology of his favorite film, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Caltech Live.
Alan Turing
Alan Turing is considered by many to be the father of theoretical computer science and Artificial Intelligence. He and his genius played a pivotal role in cracking intercepted coded messages to enable the World Allies to defeat Hitler’s army in many crucial battles. Victories that led to helping win the war. Because of the secrecy, Turing’s work was not known for decades and his career was prematurely ended because of his homosexuality and Britain’s archaic obscenity laws. He was chemically castrated, shunned and eventually committed suicide by biting into an apple laced with cyanide at the age of 52.
Invertigo Dance Theatre in Laura Karlin’s “Formulae and Fairy Tales” – Photo by George Simian
For the premiere of Formulae & Fairy Tales at BroadStage, Karlin opened the work with dialogue written by her and performed by company member Cody Brunelle-Potter. “This piece has no beginning” She/he explains. “It ends where it began, in the middle.” Incorporating written word, video projections and her signature acrobatic-like movement that seamlessly fuses with modern and contemporary dance, Karlin transported the audience back and forward through time, in and out of Turing’s mathematic mind and visualized the difficulties he faced growing up an outsider. Via this method, Karlin showed us the life, struggles, accomplishments, and the unsung heroic acts of Alan Turing.
Michael Alexander, Director of Public Programming at Caltech, said “Formulae and Fairy Tales had its premiere in 2019 and now five years later, the topics and themes possibly have more urgency than they had when it was new, worthy of an evening of dance, legends and fairy tales, and discussion.”
Theatre – Marco Palomino (seated) and Hyosun Choi in “Interior Design” – Photo by Luke Dakota Zender.
Over the years Karlin has choreographed over 40 works for the company as well as working with her dance artists and Board of Directors to develop community engagement programs Dancing Through Parkinson’s, SOL: Invertigo’s Bi-Annual Solstice Celebration, and many more opportunities for the company to collaborate with community organizations on a wide range of topics and social issues.
“We are in a time that both state-sponsored violence against queer individuals and communities remains a huge threat, and in a moment in which we are collectively grappling with our relationship with artificial intelligence. This evening weaves in these issues, and it also finds joy, nuance, and hope. It is made to bring people together in reclaiming our power and our stories,” Karlin stated.
Invertigo Dance Theatre – “Formulae & Fairy Tales” choreography by Laura Karlin – Photo by George Simian.
In addition to Invertigo Dance Theatre’s performance, the program includes an interactive storytelling component and an intriguing panel with Katy Felkner and Christopher Persaud discussing the wide range of themes that explored in Karlin’s work which include fairy tales, queerness, binary coding, the opportunities and biases woven into artificial intelligence, and more.
Katy Felkner is a PhD candidate at USC Information Sciences Institute. Her research focuses on developing high-quality, well-grounded benchmark datasets for fairness in Large Language Models, with particular emphasis on participatory, community-engaged methods. Christopher J. Persaud is a researcher and writer whose research agenda engages with cultural production and content creators on the Internet; the social and cultural dimensions of AI; gender, sexuality, and digital intimacies; and social media platform governance.
Spencer Jensen, Luke Dakota Zender – Invertigo Dance Theatre – Formulae & Fairy Tales – Photo: Michael Khoury
In a LADC 2023 review mentioning two sensual duets between same sex couples biting into the same apple, Joanne DiVito wrote: “The twisting eroticism of two men and two women, connected to a bright red apple, with their mouths devouring, and their bodies communicating the passion of life and death is stunning. The dancers work in two’s, three’s and, as an ensemble, move in complex and intricate patterns. Lifts and swirls, rolls and twists pair girl to man, girl to girl, man to man, allowing group conflict and resolutions.”
DiVito went on to write: “Karlin and company have created a provocative paradox. This is a thought provoking 80 minute evening filled with the riddles of such a complex life and subject. No matter the unfolding of Turing’s cascading life, in examining this piece and evening, one finds the need to search and discover further the lessons learned through this contribution.”
Invertigo Dance Theatre is an extraordinary company that often takes on social issues that other groups often shy away from. The dance artists are top notch and the music and visual art that Karlin incorporates into her work is stunning.
WHAT: Invertigo Dance Theatre performing Turing Tests, Apples, and Queens: Collective Storytelling Through Fairy Tales and Artificial Intelligence.
WHEN: December 6 and 7, 2024 at 8:00 pm.
WHERE: Beckman Auditorium, Caltech, 332 S. Michigan Avenue, Pasadena CA 91105
TICKETS: $40 premium; $30 general; $10 students (with student ID) To purchase tickets please click HERE.
For more information about Invertigo Dance Theatre, please visit their website.
For more information about Caltech Opening Doors series, please visit their website.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Invertigo Dance Theatre – Formulae & Fairy Tales – Photo by Joe Lambie.
