Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
ANNEX 1 REPORT ON GIVING BIRTH Synopsis Work on Report on Giving Birth began in 1995 – starting from some interviews conducted with women of ages ranging from 25 to nearly 90 years old, who had experienced giving birth. The careers of the women interviewed were diverse – an editor, an author, a fitness coach, a midwife and a homemaker. This performance grew into a chronicle or report on “birth” as the performers rehearsed the piece and brought their own personal experiences into the work. This work essentially searches for answers to the questions: What was it like to be inside of our mothers’ bodies? How do we remember it, and how has this experience continued as we grew up? The work is made up of different sections including Memories of the Mother’s Body, The Story of Birth and Love and Journeys. Interviews with the performers’ own mothers are incorporated into the performance. The performance begins with four women sitting around a table chatting and eating melon seeds, then a female performer starts to dance on a table that has a television set installed in it, whilst another female performer crawls forward. Performer Feng Dehua weaves the story of herself and her own son through the whole performance, her narrative is executed with her body movements – at times it seems to come from very distant memories, at times she seems to be speaking to a listener. The on-stage identities of the other four female performers Wen Hui, Wang Yanan, Wang Mei and He Zhumei are an amalgamation of their real selves and acted parts; they emphasise on movements, interspersed with brief narratives. The male performers Zheng Fuming and Wu Wenguang play the role of the watchful eyes of the male society. ANNEX 2 REPORT ON GIVING BIRTH Wen Hui Founder/Choreographer Wen Hui was born in 1960 in Yunnan, China. She has been a professional choreographer with The Oriental Song And Dance Ensemble of China since 1989. She began her professional study of traditional dance techniques in Yunnan Art School from 1974 to 1980, and studied at the department of choreography of the Beijing Dance Academy from 1985 to 1989. She studied modern dance technique at the Limon Institute, Erick Hawkins School of Dance, and the Trisha Brown Company Workshop in New York from June to October 1994. In 1997, she received a grant from the Asian Cultural Council to research and study dance for 10 months in New York. Wen Hui set up The Living Dance Studio in Beijing in 1994 and began to choreograph and perform modern dance. Besides Report on Giving Birth, Wen Hui's work with The Living Dance Studio includes Scene: Skirt, Video (1998), performed in Los Angeles, South Korea, Manila and Guangzhou, China; Dining with 1997 (1996), performed in London; Toilet/Living Together (1995) performed in Guangzhou, China, London, Hong Kong, New York and Lisbon; Breath with Earth (1996), performed in Jiaojiehe Village, Beijing; and 100 Verbs (1994), performed in Washington DC, New York, Beijing and London. Wen Hui has always been open to change in each performance. She also continues to collaborate with artists outside of The Living Dance Studio. Wu Wenguang Founder/Producer/Video Producer Wu Wenguang was born in October 1956 in Yunnan, China. He is the founder and producer of The Living Dance Studio. He studied Literature at Yunnan University and graduated in 1982. Wu then taught at a junior high school for three years, and joined Kunming Television and China Centre television in 1985 as a journalist. He left the television station in 1989 to become an independent documentary filmmaker and freelance writer. Since 1994, Wu has cooperated with experimental theatre and dance groups in China as a playwright, actor and producer. Feng Dehua Playwright/Performer Feng Dehua graduated from the Beijing Broadcast Academy in 1983, and since then she has worked as a journalist and writer. Her performances with The Living Dance Studio include Report on Giving Birth (1999) and Dancing with Farmer Workers (2001). Wang Mei Dancer Wang Mei graduated from Beijing Dance Academy in 1995. Her performances with The Living Dance Studio include Report on Giving Birth (1999) and Dancing with Farmer Workers (2001). Wang Yanan Dancer Wang Yanan graduated from Beijing Dance Academy in 1995. Her performances with The Living Dance Studio include Report on Giving Birth (1999) and Dancing with Farmer Workers (2001). He Zhumei Dancer He Zhumei graduated from Beijing Dance Academy in 1995, and had performed Report on Giving Birth (1999) with The Living Dance Studio. Zheng Fuming Dancer Zheng Fuming attended Beijing Dance School and later joined the Orient Music and Dance Company in 1982. He became an independent dancer in 1996, and his performances with The Living Dance Studio include Report on Giving Birth (1999) and Dancing with Farmer Workers (2001). Nakayama Nami Lighting Designer Nakayama Nami studied at the Bungakuza Training Institute Theatre in Tokyo and University of Wisconsin in the United States. She has been working as a professional lighting designer in Japan and abroad since 1993 and has worked on all of Living Dance Studio’s performances since 1997. Wen Bing Musician/Composer Wen Bing is a freelance musician and composer. He has been working with The Living Dance Studio since 1994. His portfolio of works includes music composition for the play The Fish-man, dance productions Abacus and The Red Chair Corner and The Green Nose for Children Art and Theatre of Beijing. ANNEX 3 REPORT ON GIVING BIRTH Credit List Director/Choreographer Wen Hui Producer/Video Producer Wu Wenguang Scenario & Structure Designer Feng Dehua, Wu Wenguang Stage Designer Song Dong, Yin Xiuzhen Lighting Designer Nami Nakayama Music & Sound Designer Wen Bin Voiceover Feng Dehua, Wang Mei, Wang Yanan, Wen Hui Interviewer/Sound Recordist Wen Hui Performers Feng Dehua, Wang Mei, Wang Yanan, Zheng Fuming, He Zhumei, Wen Hui, Wu Wenguang Technician Su Ming Video technician Mao Ran Cast in video and sound recordings Lao Xiujuan (Wen Hui’s mother) Wang Qinzhi (Wang Yanan’s mother) Li Peiying (Wu Wenguang’s mother) Gui Ying (Midwife at Yunnan Province No. 1 People’s Hospital) The premiere of Report on Giving Birth (2002) was sponsored by the Prince Claus Fund (Netherlands). ANNEX 4 REPORT ON GIVING BIRTH The Living Dance Studio The Living Dance Studio, co-founded in 1994 by choreographer/director Wen Hui and filmmaker Wu Wenguang, is China's first independent dance and theatre company. The Living Dance Studio operates entirely outside of China's state sponsored arts and entertainment systems. The company's work is developed in cooperation with a group of artists who are dedicated to modern performing arts and who use these artistic methods to express their perspectives on daily life in contemporary China. Some of the artists are freelancers while others work in state-owned troupes, but for the purposes of free expression and artistic experiments, they devote themselves to the activities of The Living Dance Studio. Choreographer and director Wen Hui began to choreograph in 1989 for the Oriental Song and Dance Ensemble of China, a state dance company. Through several international residencies and fellowships she was introduced to modern dance and performance. From there, she began developing contemporary performance pieces independently and with Wu Wenguang as part of The Living Dance Studio. Wu Wenguang is a filmmaker whose first film Bumming in Beijing (1988) focused on the lives of a group of artists living in Beijing without residency permits, and is considered China's first independent documentary film. Bumming in Beijing and Wu's subsequent documentaries have been screened at film festivals worldwide. Working together at The Living Dance Studio, the two artists have created important projects documenting everyday life in China, with a particular focus on women's issues, such as Toilet/Living Together (1995), which was performed internationally at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the Hong Kong Arts Centre, the Asia Society in New York, and Culturgest in Lisbon. Report on Giving Birth (1999) also toured internationally to the Centre National de la Danse, Paris, International Theatre and Dance Festival, Liege, a state in Belgium, Culturgest, Lisbon, as well as in the Hague Amsterdam.