ArtsCross Memories – Choreographers

Carolyn Choa (choreographer): Danscross 2009
Jonathan Lunn (choreographer, London): Danscross 2009
Riccardo Buscarini (choreographer, London): ArtsCross 2013
Joy Alpuerto Ritter (choreographer, London): ArtsCross 2019
Avatâra Ayuso (choreographer, London): Danscross 2009, ArtsCross 2011
Khamlane Halsackda (choreographer, London): ArtsCross 2011
Liu Yan (choreographer, Beijing): Danscross 2009, ArtsCross 2012–2014
Alexander Whitley (choreographer, London): ArtsCross 2011
Rachel Lopez (choreographer, London): ArtsCross 2012

Carolyn Choa (choreographer): Danscross 2009

Beijing Ren

In the Autumn of 2009, I had the great honour of being invited alongside the choreographer Jonathan Lunn to participate in Danscross, a project of cultural exchange conceived by Professor Christopher Bannerman of Middlesex University, in collaboration with the Beijing Dance Academy. The Academy is the premiere dance school in China, with a pick of the best dancers in the country. In turn, the company attached has pick of the most outstanding graduates. Hence, even before we had set foot on the premises, we knew that all the dancers participating would be enormously gifted and technically brilliant. What we hadn’t anticipated was how very creative they were, how open to new ways of working, how mutually supportive, and how they were, above all, a joy to work with.

Jonathan often uses text as a starting point when making work, and since we were in Beijing, it seemed apt to unearth something from the rich resources of Chinese literature. We tried to find texts which were full of imagery, with engaging rhythms. The final selection included passages from Cao Yu’s(曹禺) celebrated play, ‘Beijing Ren’(北京人 or ‘Beijing Man’), as well as several poems from the Tang and Sung dynasties.

Cao Yu’s play was selected partly for the fun of the title (which became the title of our piece), and the poetry were pieces I had grown up with and had always loved, including a poem by Li Qingzhao (李清照), the most celebrated female poet of the Sung era.
Six male dancers were chosen, each extraordinarily adept. And so we began.

Day by day fresh and beautiful phrases would emerge in the studio and the atmosphere was one of excitement and playfulness. I sensed that the dancers relished how much input was asked of them, as well as how collaborative the process was, even though the intention of the piece, the details, its tone, cadence, pulse and structure belonged, quite appropriately and finally, to the choreographer.
When the vocabulary of the piece began to take shape, music was introduced. Jonathan had brought with him a wide-ranging selection, eventually settling on tracks both sensuous and full of energy, reflecting the vibrant feel of the city itself in the twenty first century.

The culmination of the project was a day of sharing work amongst all the choreographers, each very much with their own style and approach, all happy to be in each other’s company. If one were to generalise at all, there was perhaps more interest in story-telling from the Chinese choreographers, with hints and references to tradition and ritual. The language from the west tended overall to be less narrative led. I suspect our piece lay somewhere between the two. Everybody danced beautifully.

2009 was a year when snow arrived early, when leaves were still very much in evidence. Our road to work each morning was strewn with branches straining, some broken, under the weight of the heavy snow. Etched in my memory are other small pleasures: the purchase of persimmons from street vendors, scrambled eggs with prawns and spring onion at lunch, a visit to the Beijing University campus and library, the Summer Palace on a freezing Sunday, the prodigious traffic jam to the east side of the city to meet with friends, long queues full of students outside Sichuan restaurants, and last, though most certainly not least, foot massages in the evening whenever we were able to sneak into a club with Chris’ membership card.

Jonathan Lunn (choreographer, London): Danscross 2009

Beijing Ren – Down memory road

Before arriving in Beijing in October 2009, I had no idea how my particular creative process would work in another language, in another culture. Over the years, like all choreographers, I had slowly developed my own ‘voice’ – very much concerned with process rather than product. And my voice centred around the written word, using selected texts to provide the springboard for a shared, creative journey. But in Beijing there wasn’t going to be a shared language, I thought.

So I arrived armed with a series of texts from ancient and modern Chinese literature – poems, fragments of plays, that I had selected with Carolyn Choa, Associate Choreographer and fluent Cantonese/Mandarin speaker. They comprised work by Li Qingzhao 李清照 from the Sung Dynasty, Du Fu 杜甫, Liu Zongyuan 柳宗元, Zhu Gingyu 朱慶餘 all from the Tang Dynasty, and Beijing Ren, (Beijing Man) a play by Cao Yu 曹禺, which premiered in Chongqing in October 1941.

What I discovered demonstrated how profoundly the barriers of language and culture can be transcended, when diverse groups are given the opportunity to meet, interact and be creative together.

It was clear from day one that the dancers had not been exposed to this particular process before. However, rather than shy away from the unknown, they embraced the new challenges, got stuck into the texts, and, most importantly, trusted that wherever we were going they were more than willing to come along for the ride. I was struck by the dancers’ openness, their technical skill, their flexibility, their expressiveness, their commitment. But what I loved most was the way they were with one another. There was deep trust, acceptance and humour in their interactions – a band of brothers, who respected and supported one another – literally and metaphorically – without question.

There was a magic in those two weeks of rehearsal, as the sun streamed through the windows of the Beijing Dance Academy studios, during an October that everybody said was unusually bright and pollution free. Until the snow arrived, that is. And outside the rehearsal room there was another magic, discovering the massive scale and variety of Beijing, along with the stimulating company of other participants – choreographers, academics, observers and our hosts.

The theme of the Project was Dancing in a Shaking World – a response to the Sichuan Earthquake and Financial Crash of 2008. If we were to be approaching this project now, perhaps we would be considering Dancing in a Divided World. The groundbreaking and innovative work that Christopher Bannerman and his team at ArtsCross have initiated and pursed in the last eleven years has never been more important than it is now.

In 1993 I was selected to be Resident Choreographer at Cross Cultural Dance Resources, associated with North Arizona University, based in Flagstaff, Arizona. CCDR’s Founder was Joann Keali’inohomoku, a remarkable Dance Anthropologist. She was of the firm belief that if everyone in the world were to study and learn each other’s traditional dances, there would be no more war. It’s a John Lennon style leap of the imagination, but I believe that the more we share our different and divided cultures, the closer we come to fulfilling her dream.

Jonathan Lunn 12 March 2021

Riccardo Buscarini (choreographer, London): ArtsCross 2013

I have beautiful memories of my time during ArtsCross London 2013. I loved to be part of an international project allowing me to share my practice with artists and experts from different cultures and backgrounds and to do so in London. I felt privileged to be chosen to take part in it. 

As a young choreographer (I was 28 at that time), I had the chance to explore my ideas with professional dancers and a great deal of freedom in a supportive creative and critical environment. I have fond memories of working with every single person involved in the project. 

No Lander, my first full-length work for 5 dancers that premiered in 2015 stemmed from the ArtsCross research. The project not only gave me the opportunity to investigate its ideas, but it inspired the whole concept and themes within the work. Leaving Home, Being Elsewhere (the ArtsCross London 2013 title) resonated deeply within me as artist and person. 

ArtsCross has indeed been one of the best professional moments of my career so far and I could not be more grateful for having been invited to take part in it and to everyone involved. It was a magnificent experience of exchange on many levels. I wish I could have more of this! 

Joy Alpuerto Ritter (choreographer, London): ArtsCross 2019

ArtsCross Beijing 2019 was an emotional and inspiring exchange between choreographers, dancers, academics, sharing things such as cultures and values.

It was a wonderful possibility to learn more about the Beijing dance Academy, their ways of working and culture within those three weeks. I appreciated the way the academy is disciplined to preserve their traditional dance, but also the curiosity and openness to evolve and exchange with other international artists in this project. ArtsCross made it possible for us artists to be part of discussions and evaluations of academics that came from different countries. I was able to hear more about their perspectives of several works such as mine. Although there were many language barriers, ArtsCross provided translators at all times, which always made us feel welcome.

The dancers came from all over China, Taiwan and UK, and it was wonderful to see them spending time together in the studio, exchanging ideas and inspiring each other with their individual experiences and knowledge.

In the young dancers I worked with I felt an inner need to express themselves and I was happy to give them contemporary tools and concepts in order to channelize but also release these individualistic energies and feelings through dance and movement. I basically wanted to feel their stories through movement. And so I created the work “Cumulus” that represents a collage of their emotional experiences, wishes and struggles in life and in society. It became quite a personal journey for each one of them and I was happy to enable this experience and exchange.

It was very interesting to see all the other works that have been created in this ArtsCross project and was very impressed by the technical stage equipment and quantities of work that were presented in a very short time. The Academy has so many students, nearly 2,500 full-time students so that studio space was quite limited for the very engaged and determined dancers. We could see them practice everywhere inside and outside the buildings.

I also met familiar collaborators and artists not only from Asia, but also from Europe, that I have known and worked with. What a coincidence that they were working in the Beijing Dance Academy at the same time, too. So this area seemed like a small world in this huge country.

I was also able to spend time to see the city and historic attractions and learn more about their history, mentality and feel the vibe of the city.

Avatâra Ayuso (choreographer, London): Danscross 2009, ArtsCross 2011

ArtsCross/Danscross: inspiring, dance, Beijing, London, Taipei, exciting, lost (and found!) in translation, challenging, weird, life changing, friendship, the other, reflection, misunderstandings, light, food, typhoons, artistic connections, personal discoveries, cultural shock and cultural alliances.

I took part in the Danscross 2009 and ArtsCross Taipei 2011 projects and all the words above still cannot capture my astonishing creative journey on those two programmes. ArtsCross will be forever close to my heart, not only because of the impact it made in my choreographic career but also for the life-long friendships it provided me, especially with the dance writer Donald Hutera and the Chinese dance artist Zhibo Zhao. My wish is for this programme to continue, but renewed and adapted to the new creative challenges of the 21st century. I’m on board for a new ArtsCross!

Khamlane Halsackda (choreographer, London): ArtsCross 2011

The timing of my involvement in Danscross/ArtsCross TNUA happened at a very crucial moment for me since it was the year that I had decided to solely focus on my own artistic work and direction, moving away from a long career as a dancer for other choreographers, and looking to comprehend who I was as a dance maker.

Being in Taipei impacted this immediately and directly. As a Lao-born person I felt very connected to the experience of being and working in another east-Asian country, it was wonderful to blend in, my Asian face amongst many Asian faces. There was a real empowerment through this, a sense of belonging because I didn’t stand out for a change. This opened my eyes to how fixated I was at that time to European or American influences in dance. I was in a bubble without even realising it.  It was as if the world suddenly became bigger. At that point I was already looking into and questioning the meaning of identity, and this experience really allowed my thinking to be a lot broader (we and not just me), and more complex. I went on to create work that tried to unravel my perspective and the perspective of others, and in a way this work continues to this very day.

ArtsCross was really the first time that I was able to connect with multiple east-Asian artists, connecting with their experiences both personal and professional, and to witness some of their working processes too. Watching Cloud Gate train and rehearse was inspiring. It was also the last time that I was able to collaborate with a big group of east-Asian dancers (who were wonderful, talented, open, and generous. I’m still in touch with some of them now and again). For some years now I’ve been active in building an east-Asian community of artists here in Malmö. It’s small but a vital and collective representation that is much needed here. I like to think that ArtsCross had a hand in this too (in a way). I must especially thank Jih-Wen Yeh Ball, she put me forward for this truly life influencing time. And of course thank you to TNUA who were the amazing hosts. I felt and feel very privileged and fortunate. Will there be a reunion? I really hope so!

Liu Yan (choreographer, Beijing): Danscross 2009, ArtsCross 2012–2014

Memories of ArtsCross Ten Years

In 2009, my first time back to stage after being injured was in the Danscross project. This dance experience is unforgettable for me because I was transformed from a healthy person to a disabled person. Danscross offered me a platform so that I was able to bravely face myself and the reality and return to the stage for the first time after injury, continuing my dance dream with the dance work The Brightest Light in The Deepest Night.

What makes me feel grateful and excited is that in 2012, I received the ArtsCross’ invitation from the project director Xu Rui and Professor Chris Bannerman. They invited me to participate in the project again, but my role as a choreographer. Before that, I had never thought of choreographing a dance work. Therefore, this is another breakthrough – I became a choreographer, and it happened in ArtsCross 2012. In that year, the ArtsCross performance was the opening performance of the Dance Theatre, Beijing Dance Academy, and my first choreography work in my life, Say to Him, ​​was staged. There are two dancers in this work: Ma Jiaolong, one of the dancers in the BDA Dance Company, and the other is the deaf-mute child supported by the Liu Yan Art Fund. Although this little boy has physical defects, he loves dancing very much. Every time during the rehearsal, I felt touched. Watching the moment when the two of them danced the piece on the stage, I cried, and I was moved and sighed a lot. Until today, I remember every moment clearly.

In 2013, I was once again invited by the project, ArtsCross London. Unlike before, this time I was to participate as a scholar. I set foot on the land of the UK for the first time. I have a very good impression of London city Because I love the ArtsCross team. 2013 is the year I graduated with my Ph.D. from the Chinese National Academy of Arts. In the ArtsCross 2013 in London, I found a lot of excellent researches, especially the piece Mask, which uses the traditional dance elements from China’s intangible cultural heritage, Nuo dance. After returning to Beijing, Professor Guo Lei used the 10 minutes work Mask as the basis to choreograph a long piece, Nuo Emotion, with hundred dancers, which is a work that showcases the Chinese national culture and has inheritance significance in dance.

Time flies, and I have known the ArtsCross project for 11 years. I grew up in this project, and it has witnessed my transformation from dancer to choreographer to scholar after my injury in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I am grateful for every testimony of ArtsCross for my transformation and grateful that the project has given me the chance to expand my roles in dance. With these, I will continue to move forward.

Alexander Whitley (choreographer, London): ArtsCross 2011

ArtsCross Taipei in 2011 was a wonderfully eye-opening and informative experience at a critical time in the development of my choreographic career. Being thrown into a different cultural context, surrounded by choreographers from very different backgrounds provided a valuable opportunity to experiment, observe, take risks and ask new questions of my practice in a safe and supportive environment. Having the curious minds of academics following the process offered a sounding board for ideas and gave me an insight into alternative ways of considering the themes I was preoccupied with. My involvement in the project has had a lasting impact on my practice and established relationships that have been instrumental in the development of my company to this day.

Rachel Lopez (choreographer, London): ArtsCross 2012

It’s been almost 10 years since I became involved in ArtsCross and since then I have been fortunate enough to be connected to the project on several occasions, each time returning to the east to be involved in various different ways that have included; making a new work as a choreographer, creating research presentations, and articulating my experiences through writing for publication. ArtsCross has offered me opportunities to reflect on my creative practice as well as on my concepts, prejudices, desires and sense of self as a cultural entity within a wider global community. ArtsCross was also a factor in supporting my decision to embark on a Master programme where I was able to further unravel my experiences, deepen my understanding of my creative practice and further investigate my relationship to cross cultural influences.

I had encountered eastern spiritual, martial and philosophical traditions here in the west before ArtsCross, through a variety of teachers and practices (Chinese & Tibetan) and these had influenced my approach to creative movement practice. However, in my initial encounters with the dancers in Beijing I was almost shocked to find in their dance language, values that corresponded with a particular heroic approach that I had deemed confronting in my own experiences of training and working in ballet. I had rejected this classical form in favor of a more vulnerable, earthy and perhaps in my eyes more human aesthetic. I remember at the initial audition feeling overwhelmed by the influences from Russian classical traditions that had been taken to an almost superhuman level in the dancers. This also felt at odds with what I was witnessing in the City parks and community gardens on my journeys to and from my hotel, where my image of an uptight society – admittedly influenced by the British media – was being smashed daily, through observing a particular anarchic freedom in the way social physical movement expressed itself. An old woman walked backwards down the street, no one batted an eye lid. If I had not known of this from my Chi Kung practice I would have been completely floored by it. As a Choreographer and artist with a huge interest in embodied practice it felt as if I had come home, yet in the studio things were initially really challenging.

I led the dancers into specific practices and designed improvisation structures that would create disorientation as a way to cut through some of the strong habits they had appropriately cultivated in line with their future careers. There was something perverse in that the fact that the practices I was offering and working with had been heavily influenced by my time studying and practicing various forms of Tibetan Buddhism as well as Chinese martial arts, and that whilst these influences did not manifest in any obvious or direct way, it has left me questioning how cultural influences move themselves within arts practice, and what might be the difference between appropriating cultural material and working with it respectfully.

As we continued with the improvisation scores, the dancers began to show something different of themselves, through a curiosity and thoughtfulness, but perhaps more crucially through their vulnerability in grappling with an alien process. I began to feel as though I was finally communicating with them beyond the language barrier and that instead of us falling into the predictable relationship of choreographer/dancer where they were trying to second guess what it was that I might want, they began to reveal a range of ‘selves’ that included; resistance, frustration, desire, spaciousness, and a surrendering to being lost, all of which became part of the work and created the opportunity for the audience to see them more clearly as human beings and not just dancers from a particular place and culture. In this way I have felt that the project became an opportunity to transcend cultural barriers.