Monday 20 - Friday 24 January
This residency will continue work on a new piece by two of Scotland’s only Butoh dancers. Butoh’s founder, Hijikata Tatsumi, characterised it as a ‘dance of darkness’ and a ‘rebellion of the body’, concerned with liberating the human form from social conditioning and repression. We’re using these definitions to develop our first collaboration. Specifically, we’re beginning from Pik Kei’s experiences of artistic suppression in Hong Kong, where there is an ongoing crackdown on freedom of speech and creative expression. Our overall statement is about the secrets we carry in our flesh from our personal, cultural, and ancestral history, and the confusion of living in societies which pronounce themselves free but proscribe all but a limited range of life-ways (capitalist, production-oriented, and beholden to an infinite growth narrative which the Anthropocene shows is ecologically impossible). Is this really what we spent millions of years evolving for? And if our bodies are free, why are they boiling with incoherent rage / unexpressed tenderness?
Sharing
Work-In-Progress Sharing |RESCHEDULED Friday 21 February | time 16:00 – 17:00 | Free | BOOK NOW
We invite you to join the public sharing of the work on Friday at a time to be confirmed. As this is an early stage development phase the artists will be presenting a work-in-progress.
About Paul Michael Henry
Paul Michael Henry is a dancer/musician/writer based in Glasgow. Their work is informed by Butoh dance, punk rock and ritual, and is performed all over the world. Their themes are political & spiritual, dealing with love, body neglect, environmental destruction and soul atrophy in consumerist society.
Michael is also Artistic Director and creator of UNFIX, an evolving festival platforming ecologically committed performance, dance, music, film and discussion. UNFIX is intended as a contribution to the waking up of the human species to our predicament in an age of climate change, ecological threat and massive inequality. It is based in Glasgow and is ongoing there and in New York City, Bologna and Tokyo.
About Pik Kei Wong
Pik Kei Wong is a graduate of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Wong’s choreography and performances question stereotypes from a female perspective. Her works evoke a revaluation of attitudes by and towards – women, body and desires, especially sex.
Major works include: when time limps, Woman.Body, 19841012 and Nook. With performances in Iceland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore & China. Wong seeks to enrich her choreography through contemplation of social issues. She anticipates creating more works from the perspective of women that question traditional asian mindsets.
Website:
Supported through Dance Base’s Paid Artist Residency Programme