Festival Internacional Cervantino is the biggest arts festival in Central and Southern America. Each year, it attracts around 300,000 people attending. Huang Yi Studio from Taiwan is invited by the festival to perform “Huang Yi & KUKA” at Teatro Cervantes in Guanajuato City, Mexico, on October 11th and 12th at 5pm. In addition to 2 performances, there will be an artist talk. We hope to give the public the opportunity to appreciate a work that integrates technology into dance.
Huang Yi Studio was founded in 2010 by the renowned Taiwanese choreographer Huang Yi. His creative approach is different from the general public’s perception on traditional dance companies. With his talents and artistic vision in dance, Huang Yi has created many thought-provoking digital artworks. After its premier, “Huang Yi & KUKA” has been touring internationally to almost 20 countries across America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, and has been well received by the public and critics. In 2015 and 2016, “Huang Yi & KUKA” and “Under the Horizon” were respectively selected into the annual “Pitch New Works Projects” by the International Society for the Performing Arts, which established Huang Yi Studio to be the first Taiwanese company to receive such honor in two consecutive years.
Huang Yi’s dedication to developing and programming the robot KUKA is not only about the liaison between technology and performing arts, but also about the transformation of the impossibility into reality, allowing robots to dance with humans as if having a soul. “Huang Yi & KUKA” is a piece where humans and robots dance poetically, and converse tenderly. Throughout the rhythms and exchanged gazes between the dancer and KUKA, human behaviors have become mechanical and rigid, while KUKA has turned ingenious like a human. With Huang Yi’s elaborate design, robots, under the condition of inability to improvise, can interact with dancers, and through interaction, express heartwarming affections. “Huang Yi & KUKA” is not just a product that integrates arts and technology. Moreover, it allows the audience to reexamine the relationship between “humans” and “tools.”
Before the official performance, Huang Yi will participate in an artist talk with local artists to share his experiences and inspirations on integrating technology and dance. Meanwhile, this talk will also allow the audience in Mexico to further understand Taiwanese artists’ creative process. With the support of Ministry of Culture and Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles, Huang Yi, through this opportunity, will bring the Taiwanese classic digital artwork to Mexico at the Festival Internacional Cervantino, which, in addition to facilitating cultural exchange, is expected to be received with enthusiasm.