Ballet Preljocaj and the Biennale des Imaginaires Numériques are teaming up for an evening where dance meets artificial intelligence.
This Is Unreal – Pierre Godard FR & Liz Santoro US
de dIAboli – Christine Armanger – [Compagnie Louve] FR
Closing in Aix-en-Provence
Friday, January 15, 2027
at 8:00 p.m.
Pavillon Noir
Aix-en-Provence
Credits
An evening co-produced with the Ballet Preljocaj
This Is Unreal – Pierre Godard FR & Liz Santoro US
On stage, Liz Santoro tells the story of her life through dance: her childhood in Boston, ballet, New York, Paris, motherhood, and the pieces she has created with Pierre Godard. But here, it’s impossible to tell what’s real from what’s not: some memories are real, while others are generated by artificial intelligence. Some movements come from her body, others from an algorithm trained on her dance.
This Is Unreal creates a hybrid world where the authentic and the synthetic blend together.
Cast
Pierre Godard and Liz Santoro : concept, direction, text and choreography
Liz Santoro performs
Pierre-Yves Macé (as well as Chopin, Mozart, Tchaikovsky…) music
Mélanie Rattier space, light
Rezvan Farsijani costumes
Anaïs Vallières, Beatrice Pozzi, interns
Léo Chédin Generative AI
de dIAboli – Christine Armanger – [Compagnie Louve] FR
Du grec διάβολος (diàbolos), le « Diable » est celui qui désunit, qui fracture. Christine Armanger soulève ici la question des nouveaux visages du Diable, cet emblème de la possession, de la métamorphose et de la manipulation. Convoquant une triade d’interprètes aux traits de chimères, de dIAboli s’habille d’une esthétique moyenâgeuse tout en puisant son écriture dans nos cultures contemporaines. Sur les cendres d’un foyer autour duquel une danse en trio a viré à la transe, apparaît un chien robotisé, piloté par intelligence artificielle et capable de reconnaissance faciale. Il est tel une éminente figure diabolique de demain. Un théâtre de la connivence, du flirt et du piège se resserre alors autour du démon numérique, en un rituel troublant où la danse devient incantation, et le plateau un miroir qui met en regard la puissance de l’illusion et notre propre capacité de résistance.
Cast
Concept, creation, choreography, text: Christine Armanger
Performers: Claire Audrain, Suzanne Henry, Clémentine Vanlerberghe
Lighting and stage management: Thomas Cany
Sound and stage operations: Foucault de Malet
Robotics development: Martin Tricaud
Robotics operation: Christine Armanger
Set design and costumes consultant: Marjolaine Mansot
Production and distribution: Emilie Briglia
Legal Notices
Production: [Compagnie Louve]
Co-production: CCN de Caen (2024 residency), Paris Réseau Danse (Atelier de Paris / CDCN, L’étoile du nord—a state-subsidized theater of national interest in art and creation for dance and contemporary performance, micadanses-Paris, and Le Regard du Cygne / AMD XXe), La Scène de recherche – Théâtre Paris-Saclay, micadanses/Faits d’hiver, Centre des Arts d’Enghien-les-Bains – a nationally designated venue for art and creation in digital performance and the performing arts. Co-production “Choreographic Art and Digital Imaginaries ”—Atelier de Paris / CDCN, La Scène de recherche – Théâtre Paris-Saclay, Agora de la danse, La Rotonde-Groupe Danse Partout Inc – with support from the Île-de-France Region and the Franco-Quebec Fund for the
decentralized cooperation Supported by: Chorège – CDCN Falaise, L’échangeur – CDCN Hauts-de-France (as part of “Studio Libre”), La Chartreuse – CNES in Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, L’étoile du nord With support for the dance project from the DRAC Île-de-France With support for the creation from the Île-de-France Region
With support for the residency-laboratory from the City of Paris
With the artistic participation of the Jeune Théâtre National
With the support of Adami
Christine Armanger
Christine Armanger is a French artist. A choreographer, performer, writer, and visual artist, she has worked with Laurent Bazin and Marie-Noëlle Genod, among others; she trained with Romeo Castellucci, Jan Fabre, Ambra Senatore, and Gisèle Vienne. She plays the mandolin and holds a Master’s degree in Performing Arts—Cultural History. A fan of wide-ranging forms and styles, she performed as a burlesque stripper (2010–2011) while also working as a performing arts j
r on Radio Campus Paris (2008–2015). After her early works, she founded [Compagnie Louve], with which she developed her choreographic and visual language through a resolutely hybrid and unique approach. She is particularly interested in ceremonial practices and the connections between the contemporary and the non-contemporary, drawing on art history to reinterpret it. Alongside her stage work, from 2010 to 2020 she developed a performative practice on social media under her avatar: Edmonde Gogotte. In 2017, she was a recipient of the Institut Français’s “Hors les murs” program; in 2024–2025, of the Paris Réseau Danse program; and in 2025–2026, of the Franco-Quebec program “Choreographic Art and Digital Imaginaries .” Blurring the lines between live performance and contemporary art, she presents her works and performances in France and abroad.
