Fleeing By Night (Development of)
2013
Background
Fleeing by Night is a cross media solo dance work based on the script of a Chinese Kunqu opera work of the same name. It deconstructs the connection between traditional Chinese culture and contemporary society by revisiting a classic masterpiece of Chinese literature. In the story, the hero Lin Chong had to flee to Mt. Liangshan due to personal misfortune and persecution in society and political environment. On his way to Mt. Liangshan, his unjust sufferings flashed back in his head, and he felt helpless, angry and worried about the future. When creating this cross media solo dance theatre work, Fleeing by Night, the creative team have chosen the contemporary city life as their theme, and discussed how modern people view and treat their situation in different countries and cultures. This is also an attempt to inspire a positive attitude when facing the highs and lows of life.
June 2013 – January 2014
Studied movements in Kunqu opera and researched contemporary dance. Developed the body language and texture of movement for cross media solo dance theatre work Fleeing by Night.
Collaborated Artists
Jing Sun (Actor of China Jiangsu Kun Opera Theatre)
Iratxe Ansa (Spanish choreographer, former dancer of NDT)
Movement Study
November 2013 – March 2014
Combined new media art to the work to explore the possibility of the coexistence of contemporary dance performance and new media in theatre and the narrative methods of cross media theatre works. Our experimentation introduced interactive media into the work to modify the order of time and space of stage. We’ve also explored new directions of visual elements, music structure, hardware and software implementation.
Cooperative Artists
Juehui Wu (Chinese New Media Artist)
Yu Zhang (Chinese New Media Artist)
Yusi Cao (Chinese New Media Artist)
Raymond Yiu (UK Contemporary Composer)
Jiaming Wang (Chinese Performing Artist)
Published in
The 5th JUE Music and Art Festival, 2014
Troll Art Festival in Iceland, 2014
“On the Spot” Art Project in Chongqing China, 2014
Guangdong Dance Festival and DANCEX, 2015
November 2014 – March 2015
Based on the choreographer’s life and work experience in different countries and regions, deepened the international vision and local cultural features of the work to redesign the dialogue between our script and modern Hong Kong society. Changed the stage from the Black Label Theatre to a medium size theatre space and redesigned on-site performer and audience relations. Emphasized on the dynamic texture between visual elements and body movements and the narrative method and presentation of the work.
Cooperative Artist
Jingwen Qu (Mainland China/Hong Kong Visual Artist)
Published in
Hong Kong Art Festival, 2015
Fleeing By Night 2 Performance
Content of Work
The escape of Lin Chong is a resolute one, full of metaphors of contemporary urban life.
Lin Chong is heading to Mt. Liangshan, but where should the rest of us –the townspeople—go?
Words of the Choreographer
Fleeing by Night discusses the situation in which people abandon the current city they live in for a new one, but sometimes want to flee from the second one again after living there for a while.
The act of travelling from one familiar environment to another one is just like fleeing by night, in which people pursue the possibility of a new life carrying their opinion, attitude and feelings towards their old life.
In each familiar environment, there exist certain issues that have always been there. While “fleeing” is an option, one will have to face the issues and tries to find his location after completing the action of “fleeing”. During the process of flee, how does one think about his past, current and future life? What kind of attitude is generated during this process? What’s really important for him? Are there any unfilled responsibilities? Will there be other responsibilities for the future?
The work also introduces the concept about how one “fails to depart” from a certain place, which leads to a discussion about “giving up” or “insisting on” an object and thoughts about the attitude represented by a flowing river carrying withered flowers away. It also reminds us how people can be manipulated or controlled by specific conditions in a space and that we could use our own special quality and ability to react to the space. Only by doing this can people calm down and use their intrinsic power to deal with the difficulties they might run into during different phases of life.
