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Original Music: Urban Echoes 《城市回声》
Great Bay Area Dance Festival 2024
Artistic Director: Xie Xin
Choreographers: Zhang Yan, Huang Yong Jin
As the resident artist, I composed the music for a dance piece featuring 12 non-professional dancers. This project was anexploration of how personal narratives and urban environments can intertwine through sound and movement.
In Echoes of the City, I aimed to weave the hum of bustling streets, the roar of subways, and the laughter and sighs of people into a vivid auditory tapestry. These cityscape field recordings, combined with conversations and interviews I conducted with the dancers, formed the foundation of the composition.
The music sought to blend elements of theatre and narrative, crafting an immersive soundscape where the rhythm of the city and the emotions of its residents converge. This collaborative journey resulted in a piece that resonates with the heartbeat of an urban landscape, brought to life through movement and sound. I also joined the dancers on stage, playing a fascinating overtone flute called the Futuraja.
Sound Design: We Are All God’s Children
Directed by: Yongjing Huang, Junkai Xu
This dance duet explores the duality of human nature through the perspectives of two individuals bound by an ineffable connection. Whether in unity or separation, their inner worlds form a complete whole. Inspired by the idea that "we are all children of God," the piece dissolves the tangible world, replacing it with abstract emotions and concepts.
Each movement symbolizes inner questioning, moral reflection, or unspoken inner pain, blurring the lines between elegance and discord, identity and existence. They are both divine creations and enigmatic symbols within the universe.
Sound Design: Bone in Bone, Flesh in Flesh
Directed by: Joyce Kim
This still ongoing dance project explores the tension between religion and love, examining how queer individuals navigate emotional freedom while grappling with internalized fear.
Divided into four chapters, the piece journeys through themes of restriction, liberation, self-doubt, and the consuming nature of fear. It’s a deeply personal and emotional exploration of the struggles that shape identity and belonging.