An intrepid explorer of the space where dance and technology meet, Wayne McGregor pushes his artform ever further towards the unknown. His latest work for his own company builds on an investigation he initiated some years ago, when he sequenced his own DNA.
In 2017, looking back over 25 years of work at Studio Wayne McGregor, the choreographer began to develop the concept of the ‘body as archive’. Taking his genes as a starting point, he worked with software architect Nick Rothwell to design an algorithm based on his own genome. In tandem, McGregor created 23 pieces of movement material with his dancers, inspired by elements of his personal history (memories, photos, writing, art and music, with the number 23 echoing the 23 pairs of chromosomes present in human cells). The algorithm was programmed to make random selections from McGregor’s sequenced genetic code, which in turn determined the parts and order of the choreography to be presented in performance. The resulting work, Autobiography (1.0), unique for every showing, premiered the same year at Sadler’s Wells, where the choreographer is an Associate Artist.
