San Francisco Ballet Announces New Casting And Creative Details For World Premiere Ballet MERE MORTALS

San Francisco Ballet (SF Ballet) today announced new casting and creative details for Mere Mortals, the company's highly anticipated world premiere commission that is a reimagination of the Pandora's Box myth inspired by the ethically complicated discovery and proliferation of artificial intelligence. Marking many ‘firsts' for the company, including its first full-length commission from a female choreographer (Aszure Barton), Mere Mortals has been brought to life by an international collective of artists across disciplines and performed by a 43-member cast. Performed in the heart of the nation's tech innovation hub, Mere Mortals will push new boundaries in ballet with gender-neutral principal pairing, AI-influenced stage design, and live mixing of electronic and classical instrumentation.

 

Mere Mortals will explore the parallels between the millennia-old story of Pandora's fated curiosity and contemporary society, including the unintended consequences and ethical dilemmas of rapid technological advancement, specifically AI, and how humanity has both brought these new capabilities upon itself and now must chart a way forward.

 

“Aszure Barton and Floating Points are two of the most invigorating artists working in their respective disciplines, unafraid to push the boundaries of genre to create something completely original. Their partnership, alongside the visionary Hamill Industries, has resulted in a truly expansive work that flips a classic story on its head for the modern age,” said Tamara Rojo, Artistic Director of SF Ballet. “Artificial intelligence continues to grow and evolve, and Mere Mortals will tackle the complicated issues and feelings as well as the exciting creative promise that this new technology holds.”

 

Principal dancers will include Jennifer Stahl, Nikisha Fogo, Wei Wang, and Isaac Hernández; casting details for each night of performance will be released in the weeks prior to opening.

 

Mere Mortals marks the first-ever composition of a ballet score by Floating Points a.k.a Sam Shepherd, an accomplished, U.K.-based artist, composer, and producer who creates transportive sonic environments. Best known for his appearances on the electronic music festival circuit, as well as Promises (2021), a studio album in collaboration with Pharaoh Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra (TIME Magazine Album of the Year 2021, Mercury Prize Shortlist), Shepherd's textured, kinetic score for Mere Mortals seamlessly merges electronic and classical music. Shepherd will be performing alongside the SF Ballet Orchestra on the Buchla, a synthesizer created in the Bay Area in 1963, which will interpret and loop the orchestra's instrumentation live each night.

 

Aszure Barton and Sam Shepherd are first-time collaborators brought together by Artistic Director Tamara Rojo. In April 2023, alongside Mere Mortals' Costume Designer Michelle Jank and Hamill Industries, they participated in SF Ballet's inaugural Choreographic Residency, a pillar of the organization's recently announced Creation House initiative, spearheaded by Rojo and associate director Kerry Nicholls. Creation House offers focused studio time built into the company's schedule to explore, experiment, and develop the concept of a work before embarking on the formal creation process. The program allows space for the creative team to find shared language and entry points to the work. Additionally, Barcelona-based creative studio Hamill Industries has developed cutting-edge, AI-informed visuals that will transform the historic War Memorial Opera House with an immersive, sensory experience. Hamill's creations involve mobile and adaptable LED screens that incorporate innovative light and video design inspired by mythic parallels with the creation of the atomic bomb, and use both AI-generated imagery and analog, practical effects.

 

Preceding the premiere of Mere Mortals is San Francisco Ballet's Opening Night Gala on January 24, titled “Pandora: Curiosity Unveiled,” drawing inspiration from the ballet. Proceeds go towards the creation of new works and preservation of the classics, scholarships for aspiring SF Ballet School students, and community education programs that serve thousands of Bay Area youth, families, and seniors.

 

Tickets start at $29 and are available for purchase at sfballet.org.

Friday, January 26 at 8:00pm
Saturday, January 27 at 2:00pm and 8:00pm
Sunday, January 28 at 2:00pm
Tuesday, January 30 at 7:30pm
Wednesday, January 31 at 7:30pm
Thursday, February 1 at 7:30pm

 

Mere Mortals' evening performances will include an afterparty in the price of the ticket, featuring a Bay Area DJ and a cash bar located in the lobby areas.

 

Production Credits
Mere Mortals (world premiere)
Choreographer: Aszure Barton
Music Composed by: Floating Points
Production Design and Visuals: Hamill Industries
Costume Design: Michelle Jank
Lighting Design: Jim French
Dramaturg: Carmen Kovacs
Collaborative Assistant: James Gregg
Sound Engineer: Michael Parker
Copyist & Orchestral Assistant to the Composer: Lara Serafin
Creative Coordinator & Dramaturg: LeeAnn Rossi

 

World Premiere: January 26, 2024—San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House; San Francisco, California

 

Music: Original composition commissioned by San Francisco Ballet. Costumes constructed by Parkinson Gill Ltd. Scenic construction and painting by San Francisco Ballet Carpentry and Scenic Departments.

 

Aszure Barton has been described as “brilliant” by the San Francisco Chronicle and “audacious” by The New York Times. She received her formal dance training from Canada's National Ballet School, and as a choreographer has collaborated with celebrated performers and companies around the world including Ambrose Akinmusire, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Cyndi Lauper, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, Nederlands Dans Theater, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, among others. Barton is a Bessie Award Honoree, a recipient of the prestigious Arts & Letters Award, and is an official Ambassador of Contemporary Dance in Canada. The first Artist in Residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Barton is the founder of Aszure Barton & Artists, a multidisciplinary, process-centered platform that celebrates collaboration.

 

 

Sam Shepherd–aka Floating Points–is one of the most respected names in music today. Known for his versatility and insatiable pursuit of exceptional sound, Shepherd is a boundary-pushing composer, curator, producer, and DJ who creates sonic environments that transport the listener into another world. His most recent projects include Promises (2021), a studio album in collaboration with Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra, which was named album of the year by Time Magazine and shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. With this SF Ballet premiere, Shepherd composes his first work for the ballet stage, combining live orchestral music with electronic instruments.

 

San Francisco Ballet is a leading ballet company and trailblazer in dance locally, nationally, and internationally. Performing, commissioning, and collaborating with exceptional artists in dance and across disciplines, SF Ballet balances an innovative focus on new and contemporary choreography with a deeply held dedication to the classics. SF Ballet is a catalyst for the future of ballet by cultivating creativity, bringing dance of the highest caliber to a wide audience, and providing exceptional training opportunities for the next generation of professional dancers in its world-renowned School.

 

Since its founding in 1933 and as the oldest professional ballet company in the United States, the Ballet has been an innovator in the artform and an originator of beloved cultural traditions, from staging the first American production of Swan Lake to bringing an annual holiday Nutcracker to U.S. audiences.

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