On the century and a half of the premiere of the romantic ballet Coppélia, in which the choreographer Arthur Saint-León was based on the story by E.T.A. Hoffamnn, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo honor their innovative brand and present Coppél-i.-A. The automaton doll that then went up to the stage of the Opéra de Paris has given way to an android, an artificial intelligence that dances under the command of Jean-Christophe Maillot at the Liceu to warn of how in the very near future all of humanity could be the one who dances –even in her love relationships- to the sound of Coppél-i.-A.
It is not the first time that Maillot reviews the classics with the intention of updating them. In the 90s he dared with Romeo and Juliet, and in the 2000s with La Bella. But it is perhaps with Coppél-i.-A. and the doll of Dr. Coppelius that projects more clearly into the future. Here the romantic story is that of two fiancés whose love is challenged by the appearance of an A.I. What danger can it represent for human relations? And the choreographer puts the accent on that “can”, since he does not intend to judge the A.I. per se, but alert about its uses.
“Artificial intelligence has intruded in such a way in our daily life that many things have lost their sacredness. They have become, if not expendable, then replaceable without endangering the survival of the world”, points out the choreographer. Furthermore, faced with the promise of perfect choreographies devised by an algorithm, he maintains that his art “will always require soul, flesh and sweat to convincingly embody emotions”.
The piece, which premiered in 2019 at the Monegasque Fórum Princesa de Grimaldi, comes to the Gran Teatre once the pandemic has been overcome with a new score in which Bertrand Maillot arranges the original by Léo Delibes, respecting, yes, his most emblematic melodies .
Aimée Moreni signs a bright, geometric and futuristic costume and staging, but with elements of the old theater, such as the shadows of the figures on the set. A future of cold rationality in which androids claim their place in the world. The Gran Teatre advances that the Coppél-i.-A. de Monte-Carlo is perhaps more reminiscent of Fritz Lang’s expressionist robot in Metropolis than of the doll imagined by Hofmann.
Since he took over the direction of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo in 1993, Jean-Christiphe Maillot has imprinted his character and style on a company -now with 50 dancers- that recovers the innovative idea of ??Serge Diaghilev, when he founded Les Ballets Russos in Monaco. , in 1990.
