There is a common misconception that AI in the creative process means replacing human artists. In practice, it means something far more interesting: removing friction so that creativity can flow faster.
From Concept to Conversation
The earliest stages of any performance project are the most open-ended. What should the audience feel? What story are we telling? Traditionally, answering these questions means long whiteboard sessions, mood boards, and iterative briefs. Today, AI tools like Claude help us move from vague direction to concrete concept in a fraction of the time.
We use AI to generate narrative possibilities, visual references, and technical approaches — not as a final answer, but as a catalyst. The human creative director still makes every decision. But they make it with a broader set of possibilities in front of them.
Accelerating Pre-Production
Once a concept is locked, the real work begins. Modelling environments in Blender, planning motion capture sessions, designing lighting rigs, writing show control scripts. AI accelerates these workflows in tangible ways: generating Blender add-on scripts, suggesting optimal mocap marker placements, or drafting control sequences for real-time engines.
None of this replaces the artist. It replaces the busywork. The artist still sculpts, refines, and decides. They just spend less time waiting and more time creating.
Choreography Meets Computation
The most exciting frontier is generative choreography. By analysing movement data from motion capture sessions, AI can suggest movement variations, transitions, and spatial patterns that a human choreographer might not have considered. It becomes a collaborative partner — offering options, not ultimatums.
A choreographer can take an AI-generated sequence, adjust it by hand, feed it back into the system, and iterate in ways that were previously impractical. The result is choreography that is more explorative, more varied, and often more surprising.
The Human Still Leads
None of this diminishes the role of the artist. If anything, it raises the bar. The tools are available to everyone — what distinguishes a great production is the vision, taste, and craft of the people using them.
AI doesn’t make art. It makes space for art to happen faster. And in a world where live moments cannot be reshot or edited in post, that speed matters.
We use these tools daily. But the story, the movement, the emotion — that still comes from people.