The contemporary dance spy of Asia...
Trained in Berlin and Singapore, choreographer and video artist Choy Ka Fai explores questions about the future that move him in his performances. He views dance as the only medium capable of developing a representation of the future, combining scientific elements - such as visualising brain activities of dancers - with technology and movement.
In his performances, Choy Ka Fai thematises dance concepts from different Asian cultures, investigating the Western perception of them. On a recent search to find more about dance in Asia, Choy Ka Fai inserted himself into cities, trying to find the alternative centres of dance, and seeking out work he hadn’t previously experienced. He interviewed 88 artists in four countries to gather information: India, Japan, Indonesia and China, afterwards saying “now, I call myself a contemporary dance spy of Asia”.*
His Liveworks performance, Unbearable Darkness, is both a cybernetic dance experiment and a paranormal encounter. Exploring the legacy of the historic dance form Butoh, Choy Ka Fai will conjure master Tatsumi Hijikata from beyond the grave using a spirit medium, live dance motion capture and a lively digital avatar.
Butoh arose in Japan at the end of the 1950s, encompassing a range of techniques including dance, performance, theatre and movement. Butoh master Hijikata would often refer to his form of physical expression as ankoku butō (dance of darkness). In this artform, Choy Ka Fai sees a “rebellious potential that opposes the superiority of Western dance cultures and seeks a choreographic language for the Asian body”.†
Through investigating the choreographic process of a ghost, Unbearable Darkness will ask how memory and intangibility transmit into worlds of desire, belonging and representation.
Read an interview with the 'Dance Investigator' and see images of his previous works here.
Book tickets to Choy Ka Fai's Unbearable Darkness at Liveworks here.
* Realtime Arts
† The Theatre Times
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