Wen Hui
I am 60
In her solo piece “I am 60”, the pioneer of independent Chinese dance theater Wen Hui uses images and film footage to trace her own history and that of her female family members, their injuries, imprints and strengths. Wen Hui tells of these discriminations, but also of movements of female emancipation, especially in the Golden Age of Chinese cinema in the 1930s, when female characters were not just beautiful décor, but fighters in their own right. In “I am 60”, historical film clips meet private documents, statistical facts and interviews meet personal memories. In between, Wen Hui moves lightly, dance-like, almost like a blade in the wind. She brings together the present and the past and gives space to the experiences of women of different generations.
On 26.05. there will be an audience discussion afterwards.
Duration: 1 h
Language: Chinese with German subtitles
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Choreographers and dancers : |
Wen Hui |
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Texte |
Zhang Zhen |
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Video designer : |
Rémi Crépeau |
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Lighting designer : |
Romain de Lagarde |
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Technical manager : |
Paco Linares |
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Production : |
Damien Valette |
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Production assistant : |
Louise Bailly |
Production : Living Dance Studio, Damien, Valette Prod
Coproductions (ongoing) : Théâtre de la Ville, Festival d’Automne à Paris …
French Institute’s residency at Cité Internationale des Arts from January to April 2021
Choreographer and dancer, Wen Hui also makes documentary movies and art installations. French magazine Télescope describes her as “a pioneer of dance…a miracle”. Wen Hui graduated from Beijing Dance Academy in 1989 with a degree in Choreography. In 1994, she studied modern dance in New York attending José Limón, Erick Hawkins and Trisha Brown’s classes. From 1997 to 1998, she received a scholarship from the Asian Cultural Council to further her study of modern dance and theatre production in New York. In 1994, she founded with Wu Wenguang, a documentary filmmaker, the Living Dance Studio in Beijing, the first independent art company in China. She has participated in curating and organizing numerous arts projects. For twenty years, Wen Hui has insisted on using theatre as an intervention in the society. Since 2008, she has begun to research the ways body forms the archive of personal, social documentation, using personal means to experiment how bodily memory catalyzes collision between history and reality. Since its inception, the Living Dance Studio has become a pioneer in contemporary Chinese art.
The company is committed to exploring the artistic process in an open arena, working with artists of all media and all disciplines, and creating performances that integrate dance, theatre, and all forms of audio/visual art. Its mission is both to perform the here-and-now realities in which we all live, and to bring public attention to the narratives and experiences that we can use to reflect on the past. The Living Dance Studio has presented its work in numerous local and global festivals including the Venice Biennale, Shanghai Biennale, the Festival d’Automne de Paris, Biennale de la Danse de Lyon, SPIFI ART Festival Munich, IN TRANAIT BERLIN, Theater Hebbel am Ufer of Berlin, Kampnagel Hamburg, JULI DANST, Wiener Festwocheh, ZUERCHER THEATEER SPEKTAKEL, DECEMBER DANCE Belgium, EUROKAZ FESTIVAL, Festival/Tokyo, Sesc Pompeia Sao Paulo, Singapore Arts Festival, Hong Kong Art Festival, etc.