A FUSION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE,
MATHEMATICAL GENIUS AND FAIRY TALES
CaltechLive’s Opening Doors is a themed series of dance, music, and theater events on campus that showcase artists whose work engages with both the history of science and cutting-edge scientific research. In October, they presented the wonderful Tesla: A Radio Play for the Stage with Hal Linden and French Stewart. Next up on December 6 & 7 is LA-based Invertigo Dance Theatre with a stunning dance performance centering on Alan Turing, the father of computer science and WWII codebreaker, who was criminally prosecuted for being gay; indeed, after the war, Turing forced into chemical castration. Turing’s favorite film was Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, so when he committed suicide in 1954 at the age of 41 for being constantly hounded and then shunned, it was with cyanide, and he was found with a half-eaten apple next to his bed.
A scene from Formulae & Fairy Tales. Photo by George Simian.
Invertigo Dance Theatre will present about an hour of excerpts from the groundbreaking, brilliant 80-minute Formulae & Fairy Tales, which, after premiering in 2019, toured nationally and then returned to the BroadStage in Santa Monica just over a year ago. The performance features a cast of six beautiful dancers, evocative original music, and a pre-recorded monologue performed by luminary actor Patrick Stewart. Along with the reimagined performance — specifically created for this event — there will also be an Artist Talk. Audience Activation and then a Panel Discussion, all centering on Turing and the science to which he gave birth. This interactive component of the performance will give audience members the opportunity to explore humankind’s timeless, tangled, and nuanced relationship with technology as raised by Turing’s work in artificial intelligence.
Alan Turing and his statue in Sackville Gardens, Manchester,
depicting him holding an apple in his hand
Writer, choreographer and Invertigo founder Laura Karlin has conceived this special program just for Caltech under the title Turing Tests, Apples, and Queens: Collective Storytelling Through Fairy Tales and Artificial Intelligence. The pieces chosen from Formulae & Fairy Tales reimagine Alan Turing’s mind, life’s work, and mathematical discoveries through projections, original music, words, and choreography. The work deconstructs binary thinking and examines its implications, while exploring humankind’s timeless, tangled, and nuanced relationship with technology. Karlin is not sure if it will be mounted again, so this may be your last chance to witness a terrific piece of dance theatre.
A scene from Formulae & Fairy Tales. Photo by George Simian.
Says Karlin, “An important element of the performance is making sure that it isn’t esoteric or inaccessible for a wide array of audience members. So, early in the process, I wrote a monologue to make sure people were ‘invited in.’ Over the years, the monologue has been performed by a dancer onstage. For this show, we asked the wonderful Patrick Stewart to record it for us. He brought such a depth of humanity and storytelling to the words, and it will be especially great to share it for the first time at the Caltech events.
A scene from Formulae & Fairy Tales. Photo by George Simian.
“Patrick was absolutely lovely and a dream to work with. During our rehearsal, he said, ‘You know, it’s quite extraordinary, I’ve really never done anything quite like this before.’ And I said, ‘You know, I get that a lot from people I work with,’ and he laughed. He’s now part of a long line of dancers, actors, musicians and designers that I have baffled but who have very kindly trusted me and gone alone with the vision. It was an honor and delight to work with someone whose dedication to both the craft and deep humanity of storytelling I admire so much.”
A scene from Formulae & Fairy Tales. Photo by Ben Gibbs.
Turing Tests, Apples, and Queens:
Collective Storytelling Through Fairy Tales and Artificial Intelligence
Invertigo Dance Theatre
part of Caltech’s Opening Doors series
and CaltechLive! PST ART / Art and Science Collide series
Beckman Auditorium, Caltech, 332 S. Michigan Ave in Pasadena
December 6 and 7, 2024, at 8
for tickets ($10-$40) visit Ovation Tix
for more info, visit Invertigo Dance Theatre