King's Day, April 27, 12:45 hours
Watch the 'Behind the Scenes' of Sioux performance on King's Day
Watch videoTech company Sioux Technologies, singer Chagall and choreographer David Middendorp (Another Kind of Blue) treat the King and the Netherlands to a unique performance on King's Day 2021. Artificial intelligence enables live interaction between one singer, two dancers and twelve drones.
In the artistic show, designed by David Middendorp, man and technology melt together. For more than ten years, the choreographer has been working on the duet between man and technology, which now reaches one of its highlights on King's Day. This performance is so unique because you can't pre-programme it,' says David Middendorp, choreographer of Another Kind of Blue. 'There really is an interaction between the humans and the drones, with technology playing the key role in making it happen. It is precisely that unpredictability and the human-machine interaction that makes this performance so special. It is easier to have a thousand drones in swarm formation perform a show in the air, than to have twelve drones in live interaction move so close to the singer and dancers.'
To make this happen, Sioux Technologies put more than a thousand hours of specialist software, mathware and electronics expertise into the project. 'Using smart algorithms, all of Chagall's movements are recorded and the trajectory of the drones is predicted and determined,' explains Leon Giesen, CEO Sioux Technologies Europe. This show incorporates the latest knowledge in the field of Artificial Intelligence from the most advanced high-tech industries Sioux operates in daily. From this beautiful stage we can show the possibilities of this to the King and the rest of the Netherlands.'
Singer and producer Chagall wrote the song 'Whether a Wall' especially for this project, which perfectly brings together the various forms of interaction between dance, singing and technology. The performance is given an extra dimension by the fact that Chagall not only directs the swarm of drones, but also creates the music on the spot with her MiMU gloves. Chagall: 'In this piece, the emotion is not only in the music and dance, but also in the technology. The drones behave like living beings, which gives the whole thing a magical touch. With the MiMU gloves, I also control the music and the effects on my voice live with my movements, so hopefully it will touch the King and the Dutch audience even more.
