Balancing Acts

Zach Walking the Dragon's Back

My main thought for the past 24 hours has been how glad I am that we decided to come to Hong Kong a week ahead of starting the Aedas My Footsteps project here. Of course, we’ve already been working, thinking, and planning, but it’s nice to have time to slowly acclimate and find the ways in which to immerse ourselves and also gain respite from that immersion. Balance. Good to know where you are before you start throwing yourself off walls and dancing through corridors and catacombs somewhere up a mountain in Pok Fu Lam!

Today was a bit about that. Zach and I took a hike on the Dragon’s Back along the South China Sea (on the east side of the island) and down into the village of Shek-O. It was a trip I’d made last time we were in Hong Kong, and there was the comfort of the familiar in it, the excitement of sharing it with Zach, and the relief of getting away from the bustle up in the North. Hong Kong is magical to me in that way, that you can be in one of the most relentlessly vertical and densely populated places on Earth one minute, and several minutes later, alone in the jungle. Zach is surprised that I don’t feel claustrophobic here. I do in New York sometimes, but Hong Kong is 40% green space. I think knowing how easily you can escape is the reason I find it livable.

Sand Sculpture on Shek-O Beach

After arriving in Shek-O, and touring the tiny beach, we settled into a village restaurant we’d discovered in 2007 and shifted back into business mode. Tomorrow, the workshops begin.

We are balancing two agendas for this project: an educational series designed to share our methods for creating site-specific performance with a group of professional participants, and the creation of a new work for the Bethanie in Pok Fu Lam which will feature all of us.

Zach and I have been tossing around ideas and impressions for the last several days. A usual, our separate perspectives and interests cover a pretty wide range, so our agenda thus far has been to hone in on those that overlap or meet in informative ways. Zach is churning away on the historical links with the French missionaries, the Jesus/Lazarus connection, and the sanatorium while I’ve been turning over movement motifs that pull from impressions I got on our site visit this past week [See Zach's previous entry, "McDonald’s and the Missions Etrangeres de Paris PART 1"].

When we toured the Bethanie site on Thursday, I let myself free-flow with image and movement fantasies while walking through. Having developed a site-specific checklist with Zach over the years, I am quick to cycle through all of my assessment items. What can go there? How can that support weight? What is the purpose of this? And, how can it be re-purposed? What is hidden? How do I expose it? What will unify this vast space? And, how can I force a different perspective for my audience here? All of my historical, social, and contextual research steps aside as I let my eyes, ears, nose, and fingers take over.

The Chapel at Bethanie

I imagined a group sequence within the chapel, shuffling in and out of the aisles and gliding inverted among the pews, forcing audience perspectives from the doorway to the altar. Along the verandas and down the steps, I see opportunities for intimate, almost “overheard” moments: a solo on the front steps, multiple reveals around the corners and through the long hallways, turns in and out of small frames within the architecture (almost like portholes) and images of suspension in the “cathedral” spaces between features. I hear echoes. I smell rain. Most things feel cold. The pews are remarkably warm in contrast to the stone. There is a little something sweet in the air that you can almost taste. So, we weigh it all together and strike a balance, between images and senses, history and architecture, our imagination and the site’s reality, our assumptions and those of the participants, who we meet tomorrow.

- Tom

McDonald’s and the Missions Etrangeres de Paris PART 1:

Zach in Aberdeen

I went to McDonald’s this morning.

I totally bought my coffee there. In my defense, it was a last resort. I couldn’t find anything else in the area that sold coffee to take-away (to go).

I, very conscientiously, haven’t been inside fast-food restaurant for over 5 years. I dislike them, and feel that they often embody many of the things I dislike about American consumerism and the overwhelming impact corporations have on our daily lives.

And yet….

Standing in line, I was deeply conscious of how stupid it was being an American, buying American coffee at an American-based fast-food chain while surrounded by the myriad other options that Hong Kong offers.

Sometimes, you just need your coffee to go, yo.

More precisely, sometimes you need the reassuring comfort of familiar rituals and patterns.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m loving Hong Kong. Not at all yearning to return to the States.

I’m just noting, with some degree of amusement, how I’m coping with being a foreigner here. I consider myself a pretty savvy, adventurous traveler. I’m pretty much down for anything. But still, I’m noting that, even though there’s a Circle K, 7-11, or KFC on every corner; even though English is spoken nearly everywhere, even though this was city borne out of westernized expansion and commerce, I’m still grappling with notions of foreignness.

And of course, in light of the project we’re about to embark on, this all broaches the question:

If I’m grappling with being a stranger in a strange land, how must these French Missionaries have felt?

…. I bet it was really, really hard for them to find coffee to go.

Bethanie served missionaries who’d been working throughout Asia. These priests were often the vanguard of westernization. They were quite literally placing themselves in contexts and cultures that were utterly unfamiliar and unknown.

For many of them, Bethanie was a haven. A place that provided succor, and where they sought solace, healing, rest.

So In light of all of this, I’m pondering: What is the nature of foreignness? Why are we rattled by that which is alien? Are we such creatures of habit that unfamiliar customs panic us? What are the things, the rituals that give solace? Why is it easy to get along with a single stranger, but a mass of strangers seems intimidating? Where is the line between the foreign and the familiar?

Tom and I are about to hike the Dragon’s Back to Shek-O, a village on the South East of the Island. As I make ready to go, I’m thinking about these entries I found on the on-line thesaurus:

Foreign: alien, alienated, antipodal, barbarian, barbaric, borrowed, derived, different, distant, estranged, exiled, exotic, expatriate, external, extralocal, extraneous, extrinsic, far, far-fetched, far-off, faraway, from abroad, immigrant, imported, inaccessible, nonnative, nonresident, not domestic, not native, offshore, outlandish, outside, overseas, remote, strange, transoceanic, unaccustomed, unexplored, unfamiliar, unknown

Succor/Solace: comfort, help, mitigation, refuge, relief, rescue, support, aid, ameliorate, assist, avail, be good for, better, build, contribute to, do for one, relieve, serve, succor, allay, alleviate, buck up, cheer, comfort, condole with, console, mitigate, soften, soothe, upraise, assuage

- Zach

Tom in Central

The One You Love is Sick

Bethanie in Pok Fu Lam

Inscribed in Latin above the front door lintel is Bethanie’s motto: “Lord, the one whom you love is sick.”

These words, from St. John’s gospel (John 11:3) refer to Lazarus, and are found in a message sent by Martha to Jesus. Bethanie was named after the village where Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived, where Jesus made a point to visit just before the Passion in order to bring Lazarus back to life - "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."

Awesome.

At the end of next week, Tom and I will be presenting a site-work at Bethanie created in collaboration with the artists participating in our masterclass. We’ve yet to meet these artists, we’ve not yet fully wrapped our heads around the site.

We don’t yet know how the piece will come together, what it’ll be about, but Tom and I are agreed- It’ll be called The one you love is sick.

- Zach

Bethanie, An Overview

Bethanie in Pok Fu Lam

Hello Blogsphere,

I’m writing a few days after arriving. Still turned around and have not yet totally reacclimatized to being back in Hong Kong. The dim sum is helping, though.

Tom and I just did our first visit to Bethanie, the site where next week we begin the Aedas My Footsteps masterclass series and performances.

Bethanie is fantastic. It is architecturally beautiful. Its grounds are gorgeous. And most exciting for me, the site has a rich, convoluted history. It’s riddled with all sorts of cultural/social complexities and contradictions. Exactly the type of site I get jazzed about.

It is a perfect site to begin teaching and collaborating with a new group of artists.

Following is a reader’s digest history of the site:

Bethanie was built between 1873 and 1875 by French Missionaries to be the first sanatorium in this part of the world. Built in Pok Fu Lam – some distance from the congested Central area of Hong Kong Island – Bethanie was designed as a haven to serve priests suffering from long term health issues and recovering from the rigors of missionary work. Initially, Bethanie included a chapel, 14 bedrooms for ailing priests as well as a service wing and several other rooms.

Bethanie operated as a sanatorium for 101 years. In the interim, it weathered an occupation by the Japanese during WWII and dealt with the repercussions of the Communist revolutions in 1949. Sold to Hongkong Land in 1974, Bethanie seemed doomed to demolition. However, the government resumed the site in 1975, and it was eventually listed as a heritage building. In 2003 the Hong Kong government allocated Bethanie and two octagonal cowsheds (which neighbored the site) to the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts. In 2006 Bethanie re-opened and currently houses the Academy’s School of Film and Television.

The site has undergone several expansions and renovations in its history. Most notably, the renovation efforts prior to its re-opening in 2006, when the Academy spearheaded an effort to modernize the building, refurbish the site, and restore many of the original elements including the altar, main and chapel doors, statues, and stained glass.

-Zach

Hello Hong Kong

So Hong Kong is different than Tucson. Just to clear that up.

I’ve just arrived after a 15 hour flight from Tucson, AZ where I and my co-choreographer, Tara O’Con were working on a fantastic new play by Dawn C. Sellers entitled Frozen Heart. Tara and I spent two weeks in Tucson working rigorously with our collaborators to get the show performance-ready. It was a fast and dizzying process… and because of the long-distance collaboration… we had worked for less than 12 days with our fellow cast members.

But even after that whirlwind, Hong Kong still has me reeling. It’s the seamless integration of the familiar and the foreign, I think, that really jostles your perception.

And it’s all coming at you very, very fast.

And it’s coming at you on the wrong side of the street, no less.

I love Hong Kong. Perhaps for these very reasons. I’m reminded of our first trip here in 2007, when our group all marveled at how at home we felt. Hong Kong has a very similar vibe to New York in some ways…and yet simultaneously feels mind-bendingly different.

In any case, coming from the warm calm of Tucson, I’m out of practice operating in a city. And certainly, way out of practice dealing with this one. I’m looking forward to hitting my stride once I settle in, shower, and figure out how this Octopus Card works again…

-Zach

Hong Kong, Here we Come!

Photo of Zach Morris & Tom Pearson; Hong Kong, 2007

Photo Courtesy of the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation

One week until we are in Hong Kong again! If you missed our previous announcement, scroll down for project details below.

In the next several days we will be launching a new series of blog entries documenting our research, planning, development, workshops, rehearsals and performances for the "Aedas My Footsteps" dance master class series.

In 2007, we shared our process for creating Strangers on Tong Chong Street, part of the SWIRE Island East Urban Dance Festival presented by the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation (to revisit this series of blog entries, see links at the very bottom of this entry). Continuing Third Rail Projects' relationship with HKYAF, and this time around with project support from Aedas, we are thrilled to share this new chapter in our efforts to help promote, sustain, and develop dynamic site-specific partnerships between US-based and Hong Kong artists.

PROJECT DETAILS: For the current project, the focus is on choreographer development and training, with a culminating series of performances April 24, 2010.

Sponsored by Aedas, Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation in collaboration with renowned New York site-specific choreographers Tom Pearson and Zach Morris of Third Rail Projects(TRP) to present “MY FOOTSTEPS”, a choreography development series this April.

MY FOOTSTEPS aims to engage students, performers and audiences by animating a series of sites through rigorous choreography and performance and unveiling layers of topographical information to deepen viewers relationships with public space. The creative process will be filmed and available as a teaching guide for participants to enable future site-specific endeavors.

The Bessie Award-winning artists of TRP will conduct five master classes with a group of local emerging choreographers and lead them through their unique process of creating site-specific movement works at a unique location in Hong Kong. The participating emerging choreographers will perform 15 minutes of finished work (of their own and with TRP) for an intimate audience on site. Selected choreographers will then conduct a one-day dance workshop for a group of local dance practitioners and encourage them to continue with the work.

20 chosen applicants will go through a five-day intensive dance workshop from 2pm to 9pm, April 19-23, 2010.

The project is suitable for emerging choreographers, age 18 and above. Free admission to all for performances.

* * * * *

Our first Hong Kong Site-Specific Blog Series, from 2007:

10/27/07: "Choreographing Site Unseen"

11/06/07: "Challenges in Making Site Work"

11/27/07: "Not So Far From Home"

11/28/07: "Between Research and Reality"

12/03/07: "Site-Seeing"

12/06/07: "Strangers on Tong Chong Street"

12/07/07: "Interpretations"

12/11/07: "Daily Motion"

12/15/07: "Crowd Control"

12/17/07: "On Being a Stranger on Tong Chong Street"

01/10/08: "Sugar From Sugar Street"

AEDAS My Footsteps – Dance Master Class Series

Site-specific workshop intensive this April in Hong Kong.

If you are in Hong Kong and are interested, Click Thru to read more and to download the application.
Applications are due March 7, 2010.
Workshop is April 19-23rd, 2010 and is free of charge for those selected.
Sponsored by Aedas, Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation in collaboration with renowned New York site-specific choreographers Tom Pearson and Zach Morris of Third Rail Projects (TRP) to present “MY FOOTSTEPS”, a choreography development series this April.

MY FOOTSTEPS aims to engage students, performers and audiences by animating a series of sites through rigorous choreography and performance and unveiling layers of topographical information to deepen viewers relationships with public space. The creative process will be filmed and available as a teaching guide for participants to enable future site-specific endeavors.

The Bessie Award-winning artists of TRP will conduct five master classes with a group of local emerging choreographers and lead them through their unique process of creating site-specific movement works at a unique location in Hong Kong. The participating emerging choreographers will perform 15 minutes of finished work (of their own and with TRP) for an intimate audience on site. Selected choreographers will then conduct a one-day dance workshop for a group of local dance practitioners and encourage them to continue with the work.

20 chosen applicants will go through a five-day intensive dance workshop from 2pm to 9pm, April 19-23, 2010.

If you are a local (Hong Kong) emerging choreographer (age 18 or above) with a passion for dance and interest in experimenting with methods for creating site-specific performance, please download and complete the application form.

Interviews will be held in March. 20 chosen applicants will go through a five-day intensive from 19th to 23rd April 2010 (five full days).

Workshop is suitable for emerging choreographers aged 18 or above.

Free to those selected to participate.