THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Choreography by Aszure Barton, music Floating Points
Sadler's Wells, Roseberry Avenue, London until September 12, 2026
You might think a night at the ballet would be a break from the endless media debates and chatter about the rapid advancement of AI and its (unintended?) consequences for our civilization, but this ambitious new piece from San Francisco Ballet addresses just that subject. Not that surprising perhaps, considering Silicon Valley is just down Route 101 from their home in Van Ness Ave.
This immersive sensory extravaganza, more rock gig than stately ballet, seeks to reimagine the ancient Greek myth of Pandora's Box through the lens of artificial intelligence and technology. It only partly succeeds.
SF Ballet is the oldest professional ballet company in America and its occasional London visits are always to be treasured because of the talent of the company and the sheer verve of its programming. There’s an added interest this time as it is now led by Tamara Rojo, ex supremo of English National Ballet, and before that a star Principal at our own Royal Ballet.
On previous visits they would bring 3 or 4 packed mixed programmes, all the better to demonstrate their amazing versatility. This time Rojo has opted instead to present a single new 70-minute piece from the Canadian choreographer Aszure Barton.
The first thing you can’t miss is the propulsive original music by electronic producer Floating Points aka Sam Shepherd. It’s a live synthesis of classical orchestral arrangements (some beautiful harp playing) and a driving electronic dance music score. It’s 40 minutes in before that tone of rapid gunfire quietens, by which time it’s a mercy.
The overall look by Hamill Industries is sci-fi futuristic with huge LED back-panels dominating the stage. When Pandora’s box/the AI genie is opened, the screens burst into a sort of cataclysmic storm of digital imagery, and you’d better watch out if you’re sensitive to flashing lights.
Michelle Jank’s costumes impress, too, featuring lots of black and gray sculptural overcoats (think The Matrix) and for the 40 strong ensemble, who do incredible work here, she dresses them in unitards of either shiny black or shimmering gold lamé. This gender expansive approach is refreshing but of course not new (Mark Morris’s designers have been doing it for years) but here it manages to de-eroticize the human body while at the same time remaining incredibly visually arresting.
The main reason to see it though is the performance of the lead Jennifer Stahl. She’s fluid yet totally in control as Pandora and she has a mesmerizing stage presence. The highlight of the piece is a wonderfully contorted pas de deux with Harrison James as Epimetheus, which takes it to a new level after some often repetitive ensemble work in the lead up.
Although essentially an abstract piece with a rock gig aesthetic it’s meant to be grounded in the story of Pandora, yet it lacks the narrative clarity to really achieve this. It also doesn’t so much end as stop, and this abrupt conclusion undermines what it was trying to achieve.
Overall, it is digital spectacle at the expense of narrative depth and while it is visually and aurally astounding, at times the great dancing is overwhelmed.
