Fully Automated Luxury Dancing!

What happens to dance and dancers when an algorithm sets the rules?

What if an algorithm created a dance performance? Every performance three new freelance dancers perform instructions they receive live through headphones. They don’t know in advance what will happen, and step onto the stage unprepared. They plunge into the unknown, as vulnerable bodies within a black box system, responding to a logic whose expectations remain unknowable to them and to us. What happens to the dancer, and to the dance itself, when creativity becomes just another task to be optimised?

Based on interviews with Belgian dancers, Dan Mussett and Yorrith de Bakker developed a unique performance where the same automated commands never produce the same dance.

This performance is connected to the central theme of STUK’s 2026–2027 dance season: algorithms.

For the first time, STUK’s dance programme is built around a common thread running throughout the season. The theme of algorithms recurs across several performances. These performances help us understand what algorithms are and what they do. They not only showcase the latest applications of (digital) algorithms in the arts, but also actively contribute to the ongoing debate surrounding them.

concept & choreography: Dan Mussett & Yorrith De Bakker dance tbc light design Irene Cantero sound design & composition Raphael Malfliet technical assistance Fleur Roggeman outside eye Barbara T’Jonck history of dancers: Jacopo Buccino, Giada Castioni, Yorrith de Bakker, Mikael de Geyter, Ine Garré, Helena Vandecasteele, Elien Devlieger, Hilde Christiaens, Maisie Woodford, Anne-Lene Noldner, Amarachi Molokwu, Anya Sirina, Tommy Cattin, Gabrielle Martin, Simon Lelievre, Levente Lukacs, Margot Masquelier, Alessia Stracuzzi, Mercedes Ferrari, Josie & Kosta, Sophia Dinkel, Gaspard Rozenwajn, Luca Tomaselli, Carla Parcianello, Lou De Ruyck, Izah Hankhammer, Fons Dhossche, Mira Biermans, Manon Janssens, Victoria Kennett, Anne-Charlotte Bisoux, Panos Malactos, Amber Vanluffelen, Olivia Busquets, Kaat De Bakker, Marcos Martincano, Anastassya Savitsky, Sophia-Danae Vorvila thanks to Francesca Chiodi Latini co-production KAAP, workspacebrussels supported by Stad Leuven residency support STUK Arts Centre, Life Long Burning/Atlas Impulstanz, WASP/4Culture, Royal Conservatory of Antwerp