Waltz starts with the research on Facial Action Coding System (FACS), the study on how facial expressions depict emotions. FACS was started by the psychologist Paul Ekman after Carl-Herman Hjortsjö’s system that identifies the physical expression of emotions. It was first used as a study on depression but was later used for animation purposes most importantly, it is the base for facial recognition in today’s ubiquitous AI applications. FACS has been established as a computed automated system that detects faces in videos, extracts the geometrical features of the faces, and then produces temporal profiles of each facial movement.

Using the face as an instrument, she separates the top from the bottom, the eyes from the mouth. These performed deconstructed gestures deny a specific feeling, and it’s up to the spectator to mix and match as pleased as well as decide what they convey or if they convey at all. Can our face be used as an instrument? Does a smile still mean “happy” if deconstructed and choreographed? Can choreographing a facial expression surpass the expression itself, to the detriment of its humanity? Or does it, instead, allow us to own and reclaim our human nature?