Set on a cast of 9 dancers to an original score by American DJ Jlin, Autobiography layers choreographic imprints over personal memoir and in dialogue with a specially created algorithm that hijacks internationally renowed choreographer Sir Wayne McGregor’s DNA data. The 75-minute full-length work upends the traditional nature of dance-making as artificial intelligence and instinct converge in creative authorship.
Wayne McGregor CBE is a multi-award-winning British choreographer and director, internationally renowned for trailblazing innovations in performance that have radically redefined dance in the modern era. He is Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor, encompassing creative collaborations in dance, film, music, visual art, technology and science; learning and research programmes; and a touring company of dancers Company Wayne McGregor, the first resident company at Sadler’s Wells. Throughout his career, Wayne McGregor has made choreography that interrogates life through the experience of the body in its multifaceted relationship with technology. In 2017, McGregor turned his attention to the ‘body as archive’ with Autobiography (1.0), the first in a developing series of unique dance portraits inspired and determined by the sequencing of his own genetic code.
The exclusive Canadian engagement of Autobiography is presented by Fall for Dance North at The Creative School Chrysalis (formerly TMU or Ryerson Theatre), for two performances only on Oct 1 and 2, 2024, at 7:30 PM
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- FUN FACTS
- Wayne McGregor is Resident Choreographer at The Royal Ballet, Director of Dance for the Venice Biennale, and has works in the repertories of Paris Opera Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Bolshoi Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada.
- Wayne McGregor created MADDADDAM for the National Ballet of Canada, inspired by Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy. Produced in partnership with The Royal Ballet in London, MADDADDAM made its world premiere in Toronto in 2022.
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“I've always been just as interested in making people think as I am in making them feel, and one of the things this scientific process allows me to do is make the audience look differently at dance.”
- Wayne McGregor
Photo by Pål Hansen
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Concept and Direction
Wayne McGregor
Choreography
Wayne McGregor in collaboration with the dancers
Music
Jlin
Set Design and Projection
Ben Cullen Williams
Lighting Design
Lucy Carter
Costume Design
Aitor Throup
Dramaturgy
Uzma Hameed
Autobiography Algorithm
Nick Rothwell
Produced by Studio Wayne McGregor.
Co-produced by Sadler’s Wells, London, UK; Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg; Edinburgh International Festival, UK; Festspielhaus St Pölten, Austria; Carolina Performing Arts at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA; Movimentos Festwochen der Autostadt in Wolfsburg, Germany.
Co-commissioned by West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong; Festival Diaghilev. P.S., St Petersburg, Russia; Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Guimarães, Portugal; Seattle Theatre Group, USA (music); Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London, UK.
Music by Jlin in partnership with Unsound.
Photo above: Company Wayne McGregor, Photo credit Andrej Uspenski