Rising Artists' Works

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Five Actions of Wu Kong

Wu Kong, the most famous Chinese character, is actually an ideal complex of ambivalence. On one hand, as a monkey born from a rock, it is one-of-a-kind creature doesnt belong to human being, holy or evil spirits, but meanwhile bears characteristics of these three categories of spirits. On the other hand, when the monkey was given the Buddhist name Wu Kong (means to realize the void senses it was caged by its fate), which is to struggle and fight for its freedom all its life, by accomplishing the tests preset by Buddha. Wu Chengen (1501-82, the author of Journey To the West, one of the four Chinese novel classics) didnt let Wu Kong to think about its own fate in the novel, leaving the space to interpret on our own. Isnt it true that there lives a creature like Wu Kong deep in the soul of each human being? Isnt it true that each of us is fighting for the freedom defined by oneself all ones life? Five Actions of Wu Kongreflects on the inner complexity of ambivalence. The five actions are constructed with a Chinese theatrical approach to tension and relaxation. All means are taken to realize this oriental linear development:Lento – the Purple Forest of SpiritsPresto – There is a young lady on the road ahead!Andate－Monolog in the MoonlightLargo – Wear this, then you will be freeAllegro – Eternal Battle

Music 2015

Oratorio: Rubbish on the Square

In the morning of October 1st 2013, the National Day of China, lots of people from all over the country came to Tiananmen Square to watch the flag-rising ceremony in the rain. After the ceremony, about 5 tons of rubbish was left on the square. This situation was published on the website and became the hot topic nationwide. Oratorio Rubbish on the Square is based on this event. It is performed by 4 soloists, mix chorus and a piano. The work not only shows the inflexion of the debate, but also describes lots of famous or nameless opinion leaders and public figures. The composer wants to call attentions to the mob phenomenon--out of sense when flocking together through this work, at the same time he wants people to protect the environment and love our country rationally.

Music 2015

Chamber Opera: The Trio

In his newly-rented apartment, a young man meets the middle-aged and elderly incarnation of himself. These personages are destitute and hopeless, both hoping to return to their youth and rewrite their destinies. Their shared inheritance becomes a point of dispute, and argument breaks out among them in which each party only think of their own benefit. The three of them have no other choice than to bring out their childhood self to help them make a decision, but their continued fighting fills the child with dread. The child cannot withstand the young mans expressions of anger and despair, so the boy jumps from a window, ending his life. The three men immediately vanish: with no once upon a time, there can be no future.

Music 2015

2o15

2015 unfolds like an unfinished history book and tragicomedy in our life. In the other side of 2015, we have 2o15. These are two parallel universes where the same people and similar landscapes recur but develop in different ways.This work is based on scenarios of our daily life. Players, as normal citizens lead you through worlds of reality and imagination, conventional and alienated worlds. The boundary between the real world of 2015 and the virtual one of 2o15 will be broken at last, for both of them share peoples confusion, pain and love.

Music 2015

Hear the Way in the Morning

Is there some kind of emotional mood, which is shaking our faith and is going to destroy our mutual spiritual home? Is there some kind of extending culture, which will let us become completely irrational and will wreck the life that we painstakingly built up? Maybe there is no answer in the end; maybe everything is outside of the plan. Hear the Way in the Morning shows a brand new method of how we express ourselves on stage.The director rebuilt the relationship between audience and the theatre. The daily life of every audience and the play itself will combine with each other, and this connection is the most important part in this show.

Music 2015

Sever

Wrapped in an absurd and hyperbolical narrative, the music film revisits an ancient Chinese folk tale: Guan Yu beheaded Diao Chan. In this film adaptation, Guan Yu, the once proverbial historic hero in the Three Kingdom period, travels to the modern urban society and finds himself frustratingly debilitated day by day, while a modern thespian devoted to playing Diao Chan (a femme fatale in Guan Yus time), primps and preens herself for her performance, not knowing the tragic looms ahead. The two storylines are intertwined and eventually come to an end as Guan Yu severs Diao Chan on the stage, a symbolic scene with stark historical resemblance: back in the Three Kingdom period, Guan Yu killed Diao Chan for the sake of loyalty and justice. By juxtaposing this anachronism, this innovative rendition attempts to answer how we should reflect on our tradition.

Music 2015

Day and Night

Day and Night is an electronic neoclassic music piece with multimedia and installation recomposed from the 24 Preludes Op.28 by Chopin. 24 motives taken from each of the 24 preludes carefully weaved into 24 minutes of blasting enjoyment. Discarding the original composing technique and inner structure of Chopins work, Day and Night follows the shifting time within one day. Starting from the midnight to dawn, noon, afternoon, dusk and coming back to the end of the day, the work will take you through the evolvement of modern music in the 21st century.

Music 2015

Hope is the Thing with Feather

Body, image, soundSeem scattered materials, invisibly emerged and dislocated, mutually Reflected and Filled up Men, Women,In different relationshipsI love you, longing to engrave you into my bonesleaving you, where will I head forDo water and oil separate at the end? If the world is so hopeless,Living, for what?

Dance 2015

Between N39° and N40°

Between 39 and 40 Degrees North Latitude is a work discussing "distance". Over the years, the choreographer travels back and forth between New York and Beijing, which are located between 39 and 40 degrees north latitude, but across the Pacific Ocean with thousands of miles apart. The physical distance is unchangeable. People come and go, meet and part. The distance of time cannot be changed either. Night and day, darkness and dawn.The river of memory is mixed with the aroma of coffee and sunshine on the streets. Illusions rise from the harshest reality: between 39 and 40 degrees north latitude, what could never be changed is the distance between souls.

Dance 2015

Farewell, my Concubine

The King Disarmed is a classic solo piece played by Chinese traditional instrument Pipa. Based on the historical story of Chu-Han combat in ancient China, this music piece tells of the tragic suicide of King Xiang at the back of the Wu River as he was struck by the eventual defeat at the Battle of Gaixia. The solo piece is narrated from the perspective of King Xiang, a ruthlessly gallant general with unparalleled physical strength. He expresses his depression and grief for the loss of his kingdom and his lover Yu Ji through this tragic and soul-stirring piece of music.Fareweill, my Concubineis a dance theatre adapted from the King Disarmed. The theatre unfolds an unlinear historical narrative as Yu Jis phantom is accidently awakened by Pipa performer Tang Xiaofengspipa music. The theatre presents a dialogue between the ancient and the contemporary, man and female, the identity and the ego, time and space.

Dance 2015

Painted Skin

Painted Skinis one of the best stories from Strange Stories From a Chinese Studio. It satirizes the way in which people are adept at painting skins for themselves, dressing themselves up with an appealing exterior while hiding a debased soul within. This performance seeks a less-travelled path at the same time while taking the story back to its essence. The wife is cast as the main character as well as the malicious ghost, both played by the same male actor. The malicious ghost is borne out of the turns of the wifes mind: her lack of faith gives rise to the ghost that torments her husband, and her repentance is also capable of bringing her husband back from the dead. This symbolic deconstruction of the story makes the performance a novel visual experience and creates endless possibilities for imagination. Is the good wife a malicious ghost, or vice versa? This structure, akin to an optical illusion that switches back and forth, conveys the essence of the work and the Eastern concept of beauty.

Dance 2015

Escaping from the Temple

Escaping from the Templeis adapted from a classic play in Chinese opera, which is famous for its intricate singing technique and delicate emotion. Legend says that only a true star can master the role. Adapted into dance theatre for the first time, the work is a combination of ritualistic ambience, various musical elements and body movements. The story shows a young monk and a young nun meet coincidentally when they are escaping from their temple. Breaking all the rules and taboos of their religion, they keep their practice in secular blissfulness.

Dance 2015

The Moon Opera

This performance is an adaptation of the most famous novel from the Asian Book Award winner Bi Feiyu. It takes a piercing look into the world of Chinese opera and its female stars. In a fit of diva jealousy, Xiao Yanqiu, star of The Moon Opera, disfigures her understudy with boiling water. Spurned by the troupe, she turns to teaching. Twenty years later, a rich cigarette-factory boss offers to underwrite a restaging of the cursed opera, but only on the condition that Xiao Yanqiu returns to the role of Change. So she does, this time believing she has fully become the immortal moon goddess. Set against the drama, intrigue, jealousy, retribution, and redemption of backstage Peking opera, The Moon Opera is a stunning portrait of women in a world that simultaneously reveres and restricts them.

Dance 2015

Multi-media Installation Theatre: Star

Star is an experimental artistic work which discusses the art inheritance. When we look up to the sky and watch the numerous stars, it is hard to imagine that the light of star has already gone through hundred millions of light years. That brightest star we can see now may have long gone.How about the dissemination of arts? Those maestros whom we adore today have already passed away; while their works are just as bright as the stars, which attract future generations to study and explore. The world without the works of these maestros is just like the pitch-dark universe without the light of stars. In the work, we take light as the carrier. With the combination of music, dance and image, we convey our enthusiasm and insistence to art to the audience from the bottom of our heart.

Exhibition 2015

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