Dancing with Algorithms: Art or Threat?

By Elke Porter | WBN Ai | May 22, 2025
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Dancers, like many artists, are grappling with the double-edged sword of artificial intelligence. On one hand, AI offers creative expansion; on the other, it threatens to replicate, replace, or even erase the human element from dance entirely. Welcome to the brave new world of algorithmic choreography.

Roboticist and choreographer Catie Cuan described her first AI collaboration as an out-of-body experience—like dancing with a digital mirror. AI didn’t just follow her steps; it responded, evolved, and embodied her movement. Valencia James took this further by performing with an AI-powered avatar trained on her motion-capture data. The AI could move in ways no human body could, redefining the limits of the form.

But awe soon gives way to anxiety. Companies like Facebook and Stanford are developing AI tools that generate dance sequences without always crediting, compensating, or even consulting the dancers whose movements train them. Dancer-engineer Laurel Lawson warns that many artists are unknowingly feeding the algorithms that could replace them. Once your movement becomes part of a dataset, you might never control where or how it’s used.

Even more alarming is how these datasets are created. Who gets to represent “hip-hop,” for example, when an algorithm trained entirely on Japanese videos claims to master the form? Cultural erasure isn’t theoretical—it’s already happening.

Projects like Irina Demina’s KLOF ask whether AI can synthesize a “universal” dance by combining folk traditions from around the world. But even this optimistic vision raises ethical concerns. Can an algorithm, trained on biased or limited data, truly represent the body, culture, or spirit of a global people?

AI in dance is more than just a technical tool—it's a pivotal moment in the field's philosophy. Will it serve as a collaborative partner or become a force that outperforms the very humans who, knowingly or unknowingly, trained it? Perhaps it's time for an Artists Protection Union, to ensure that the creativity and rights of human artists around the world are respected.

#AI and Dance #Future Of Movement #Digital Choreography #AI in Art #Dance Innovation #Protect The Artist #WBN Ai #Elke Porter

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