Future Folk

Remixing culture through digital technologies

Future Folk: Remixing culture through digital technologies brings together leading choreographers, digital artists, creative technologists, and academics for a day of discussion and exchange. Rebecca Evans (Pell Ensemble, UK) and Chieh-hua Hsieh (Anarchy Dance, Taiwan) are joined by other artistic and academic voices exploring folk, dance and music through digital technologies (AI, motion capture, games and immersive environments). Together, Rebecca and Chieh-hua, will share their work-in-progress from new international collaboration, Field / Zhèn, and explore how AI and dance can be used to preserve, transform, and remix cultural memory.

Start your day with Donald Shek’s hands-on workshop in AI, movement, and motion capture, with techniques you can immediately apply to your own practice. Then dive deeper in the afternoon as he breaks down the creative techniques driving his practice.

We’ll also hear from artist–researcher Friendred Peng, who will dive into their groundbreaking research on body movement and algorithmic machines. Also Tim Murray-Browne will speak about his research and artistic practice into AI and embodiment.

Through workshops, talks, and panels, Future Folk asks: What happens when folk and digital systems meet? How do stories move across bodies, borders and code? And what are the responsibilities of working with AI in culturally rooted creative practice? This is a vital gathering for anyone interested in the future of performance, heritage, and technology.

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We are committed to making this symposium as accessible and inclusive as possible.

BSL (British Sign Language) interpretation will be available during the afternoon symposium.

If you have any other access requirements please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We want to support you in participating fully.

You can contact us at pellensemble@gmail.com to let us know what you need.

Cecil Sharp House is an accessible venue. Please see more about venue access here: https://www.efdss.org/whats-on/how-to-book/access

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This symposium is supported and co-commissioned by Kakilang, with additional support from the English Folk Song and Dance Society.

Initial R&D co-commissioned by Kakilang, funded by the National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan. Additional support VIP Studios at University of Nottingham, Centre 151 and Alexander Whitley Dance Company. Produced by Step Out Arts.

Supported Using Public Funding by Arts Council England.

Proposed Schedule for the day:

10:00-10:30 : Welcome and networking *coffee, tea provided throughout the day and pastry on arrival

10:30-12:30 : WORKSHOP: Transforming movement into ritual through AI.

Join artist Donald Shek for an immersive workshop exploring processional movement, presence, and becoming through AI motion capture. Participants will engage in a collective digital procession inspired by the Hill of Tara, seat of ancient kings, and the solitary hawthorn fairy tree, long regarded as a threshold between this world and the otherworld.

You will be invited to explore gentle, processional forms of movement, which will be video-recorded and translated through AI motion capture into a living digital effector within a 3D environment. This space draws on the myths, rituals, and ceremonial gestures that have shaped the site’s long cultural memory, transforming your movements into part of a shared digital rite.

No dance experience is required, no need to bring any equipment. Participants are encouraged to move in whatever way feels natural, intuitive, or reflective.

What You’ll Get Out of It

• Experience how AI motion capture works and how simple movement can become digital animation.
• Participate in creating a collaborative digital artwork shaped by the group’s gestures and presence.
• Explore movement in a low-pressure, beginner-friendly way—no dance experience needed.
• Learn how myth, place, and technology can blend to inspire new forms of storytelling and performance.

12:30-13:00 : Share outcomes of the workshop that participants have generated

13:00-14:00 : Lunch (not provided)

14:00-14:30 : Rebecca Evans and Chieh-hua Hsieh: Talk on Field / Zhèn: a new work using AI to generate folk tales from the future

14:30-14:50 : Donald Shek : Artist Talk

14:50-15:10 : Friendred Peng : Artist/Researcher Talk

15:10-15:30 : Tim Murray-Browne: Artist Talk

15:30-16:00: Panel discussion and Q&A with invited guests and Rachel Elliott, Education Director, English Folk Dance and Song Society.

Photos and video will be taken during this event for documentation and promotional purposes. If you have any concerns or would prefer not to be photographed or filmed, please let a member of the team know on arrival. We’re happy to accommodate.