“Imagine what I would be like as a robot”

From the hypertext society that is Taiwan, mercantilist but traditional, under the wing of the People’s Republic of China, but with its feet stuck in the digital sea, comes a strange part. Huang Yi and Kuka Young choreographer (28 years old), Huang Yi. On March 30 and 31, people and cars will visit the Teatros del Canal in Madrid.

He was a lucky boy, from a prosperous family, a carefree child, and from childhood immersed in computers, cell phones, and networks. But one day, at barely ten years old, everything would change, before puberty Huang saw how cracked everything was. His parents were looking for up to three jobs to pay for a forty-square-foot rent; What used to be quiet has become demanding. Overseeing accountability to some parents who have come in for suicide attempts.

Those years have left a lasting impression on Huang Yi: “I grew up believing that I should be a perfect child. I censored all my emotions like passion, anger and melancholy to be this kid. “He was like a robot: obedient, kind, distinguished, attentive, never rebellious,” said the Taiwanese, explaining his fixation and special relationship with robots. It was the interplay of a human and a robot immersed in their own world, lonely and “chained” by the web, which would bear fruit in the work that is now arriving in Spain after touring much of the world. A separate piece of sadness, calm, where he also asks about life and death: “It is a sad part. I do not know where this melancholy comes from. “Maybe not only from my youth, but also because the collision between a car and a man underscores our mortality, makes our disappearance visible,” Ii told the newspaper.

Duet with a robot

The work begins in absolute darkness, slowly watching the dancer and the mechanical robot, nothing anthropomorphic; The Kuka is one of the most endless baseless mechanical weapons used in factories. We will attend, in our free time, a meeting between a car and a violet: “They are slowly finding each other out of the darkness, discovering each other. There, Kuka begins to imitate human movements, ”explains Ii about this German technological apparatus, that a choreographer needs to program for more than ten hours before each performance. “According to international standards for robots, you can not approach the robots at a certain distance. I had to make a deal with Kuka’s company. When the German company saw what I had achieved, they gave me an authorization to do so, deeming it safe. It is, to some extent, a mirror. And there is an interaction between the two, we imitate each other, we support each other and we express the idea through each other, ”he said of the work, which won ten awards for Taipei Digital Art Performance. years ago.

Since then, Jim has traveled halfway around the world with him and developed: “New scenes will be seen in Madrid for the first time. I involved a dancer who acts with sign language with a cuckoo robot, they talk about love, it is a kind of respect for the work. A man I loveBy Pina Bausch. I think I managed to bring the work, digitally, to the present day. Eventually, the dancer uses only one arm to speak in sign language, while the other part is done by Kuka’s arm. “It’s a testament to how much machines and people can work together, integrate, help each other, merge,” he said.

“In the second part of the work, I try to somehow involve my movement in Kuka. See what I would be like as a robot. For some reason I dance the duet with myself, with my mechanical part. I also introduced a new dancer, whom I somehow hand over to the torch, to teach. It is also about seeing how mortal humans are, I will die and Kuka will still be there, another man will come and continue. “Cars are great evidence of our ephemeral passage into this world, to some extent they are a metaphor for our deaths,” he said.

Asked where his dance, which seems to drink everywhere, comes from, he said: “There is a modern dance in Taiwan that uses and drinks the roots of traditional Chinese dance. It is also a dance that influences choreographers and dancers who have gone to America and brought ways and techniques of understanding from there. I feel a little martial towards all of this. I have been using the Internet for many hours since I was a child. I grew more inside than outside. I believe that my dance arises from an absolute mix of culture, information, impulses, interests. If you’ve been on the internet and using the GPS of the community you want to access, paste in it as another member. I mean, I have a common identity and I consciously try to erase even those identities in my work, my dance is neutral and at the same time seeks the purity of human movement. Of course, there is practice behind the scenes in ballet, martial arts, modern dance, but all this is not recognizable on the stage, “he explains and takes care of every word.

Two years ago, Huang Yi premiered his latest work in Taipei. A million miles away. Hundreds of fans of the choreographer went to see him. A big wheel spins on the stage, a symbol of unstoppable progress of time. It expresses memory and emotions. A figure of a father appears among them. again. When asked why he returns to the moment, to the age when everything is discovered and nothing is yet, he answers: “There are many moments from my childhood and adolescence that I continue and still do not have.” Did not understand or master .. My father died two years ago, I am working on a new project called The foundation of the soul. I recorded long conversations with my father, in the work it is all said as if it were a medium, a robot. More is never a myth. I’m totally wondering why this stage of my life is bothering me.

With this work, the Teatros del Canal reaches the meridian of the second edition of the Canal Connect Festival, a competition that seeks to explore the fusion of dance, art, science and new technologies in the digital age. The competition started with one of the biggest applause of the season () Horde, The Marseille National Ballet ensemble is led by electronic musician Ronne and a dozen dedicated young dancers with an inexhaustible energy. Among other works, the curator Charles Carcopino exhibition will be open until April 17th. Mixed machineA show of 22 installations by 13 artists that occupies the entire Canal Theater building. The ship under the command of Blanca Lee continues the brutal hyperactivity, which is unknown going to take off into space if it exhausts the physical capabilities of a loyal spectator. In April, the Teatros del Canal is hosting, also under Lee’s direction, the en Danza Festival in Madrid, which in addition to hosting more than twenty shows, is hosting the festival. Thought Center Or a meeting for sector professionals and a dance competition for amateurs, a Madrid dance competition.