AI, orchestra and dance combine in retelling of Polish folklore tale

A Body for Harnasie is a new production by choreographer Wayne McGregor and visual artist Ben Cullen Williams, reimagining the ballet score Harnasie by Karol Szymanowski, which is based on a Polish folk story.

Incorporating AI, dance, sculpture and orchestral music, ⁠the show projects footage onto a kinetic sculpture that sits above the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR), at the NOSPR Concert Hall in Katowice, Poland.

To create the visuals, Cullen Williams filmed Company Wayne McGregor dancers, and then applied AI to blend the live-action footage with algorithmic manipulation to “bring an abstract nuance” to the film, says Cullen Williams, and “tease out qualities that we understand as humans, but we might not actually be there within the recorded footage”. The footage is then projected onto the kinetic sculpture which rotates and changes shape amidst the orchestra performing Szymanowski’s ballet score, under conductor Edward Gardner.

Director and choreographer Wayne McGregor
Sculpture design, film creation and AI development Ben Cullen Williams
Principal conductor Edward Gardner 
Music Karol Szymanowski 
Original dance Company Wayne McGregor