Earlier this year, you also participated in Within These Walls / Dreams of Flight which grappled with the history of Angel Island State Park and those who came through its walls. How did you think about working within a living and growing space and embodying its history? How important is site in your movement work and are there any other locations that you’d like to perform in one day?
It was an honor to be shared with; I was given a biography of Wong Gong Jue, a young man who was detained there. As I performed throughout the space, I noticed this audience member following me throughout every room and pathway. In the end, I found out I was embodying the role of her father. I felt my spirit cry to acknowledge this transcendence of time and memory. It was both haunting, and awakening to be in the actual space; to feel the timelessness of then and now; an opening of consciousness of what happened then and what is still happening in today’s plight. I feel it is utmost important to acknowledge the location, the history, the residual memories, the beings that reside and how the movement work contributes, activates, and opens space for the sharing and bringing forth to the here and now.
How do you navigate all these different kinds of collaborations – with family, with living venues, with companies and choreographers, and also finally, by yourself as a solo artist? What are you looking for when working and sharing with others?
I feel it all comes together with deep listening and sensitivity. The more I learn of my family, the more it roots and grounds me further in belief in what I do, and the more I acknowledge the living spaces, the more I can let go of my own ego to find both harmony and spaciousness. Whilst working with companies and choreographers I try best to honor their own sensitivities, questions, and how might my own questions and felted-ness intertwine with their’s. I am hoping for an awareness of our interconnectedness – how we acknowledge our differing paths but at the same time our oneness – breaking the fourth wall to just be together, share stories and circulate compassion.
