‘Ab-sol-utely incredible!’ The blockbuster ballet that says Pandora’s box unleashed AI
Choreographer Aszure Barton's ballet Mere Mortals, first staged by San Francisco Ballet in 2024, is receiving its European premiere at this year's Edinburgh International Festival. The production reimagines the myth of Pandora's box as a cautionary tale about artificial intelligence, blending live music, dance and large-scale digital visuals to explore themes of technology and human agency.
The work was commissioned by SF Ballet's artistic director Tamara Rojo, who brought together an international creative team including electronic musician Sam Shepherd (Floating Points), who performs live, and digital art duo Hamill Industries, who created visuals for large LED screens. Barton, who previously worked with Rojo on Fantastic Beings for English National Ballet in 2016, says the show also seeks to correct what she sees as a "misconstrued" myth, recasting Pandora as an agent of change rather than a bringer of evil. Dancer Jennifer Stahl, who has been with SF Ballet for 20 years, returns to the lead role after having had a baby since the show's premiere.
- Aszure Barton's AI-themed ballet Mere Mortals gets its European premiere at Edinburgh festival
- Show reimagines Pandora's box myth as a warning about artificial intelligence
- Created with SF Ballet's Tamara Rojo, musician Floating Points and Hamill Industries
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Live music, in-person dancing and multi-storey digital screens combine on stage to explore what artificial intelligence might mean for humanity, in a production choreographed by Aszure Barton for San Francisco Ballet. The piece takes its name and central idea from the ancient Greek myth of Pandora, the first woman who opened a forbidden box (or jar, in the original story) and released all manner of troubles into the world. Here that myth becomes a way of thinking about AI as something unleashed that cannot be put back.
The production was first staged in San Francisco in 2024 under artistic director Tamara Rojo, who assembled a team spanning dance, live electronic music and digital art to build it, and it is now arriving in Britain for the first time as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. Edinburgh's August festival is one of the world's leading showcases for theatre, dance, opera and music, drawing major international productions each year.
Ballet has long drawn on classical mythology, but pairing an ancient story with contemporary anxieties about technology gives the work a particular topicality, since AI's rapid development is a subject of widespread public debate. The production is also notable for staging that leans heavily on large-scale video and lighting design alongside traditional choreography, reflecting a broader trend of dance companies incorporating digital technology into live performance.