Posts

The ArtsCross London 2026 Blog which follows is now presented chronologically as an archived blog narrative.

On a 30°C day with no air conditioning but a big fan operated by dancers and choreographers ArtsCross 2026 gathers for the first time for the dancer selection run by Waddah Sinada (Fubunation) and Léa Tirabasso. Waddah’s class has the space grooving. As the session develops, you might catch dancers grooving to the tunes on the side, choreographers nodding…

We embark on the first day of rehearsals, high on excitement, the dancers meet each other, meet the choreographers, and together, we embark on eight processes. Each process vastly different from the get-go as choreographers explore their ‘creative flowers’. As choreographers nurture their ‘plants’, I wonder what the garden will look like on the 10th…

Pik Yim Yu’s rehearsals with umbrellas have a heavy base in Chinese traditional dance forms. The dancers, have knowledge, experience or are at least familiar with Chinese traditional dance, with the exception of Western heritage London Contemporary Dance School dancer whose dance background is moons apart. It…

Tsang Wing Fai When you dance with props or objects, how do you get to know the object? One dancer responds, “I see whether it’s hard or soft, its qualities, whether it has cultural meanings, and what its uses are… I think about the relationships between body and prop…”…

Group 7 Cheng Yongping 3 July Friday afternoon 下午的阳光，树影婆娑。今天下午参加排练的演员并不整齐，编导决定用一些时间和舞者们一起讨论作品中的一个场景设置。这个场景中，一个舞者侧躺在地上，似乎是因为炎热的天气（在采访中，永萍说“伦敦太热了”是此次作品的主题），为了帮助同伴，另外一位舞者需要使用一个用来喷水的瓶子。据编导说，这个瓶子是她在超市买的，并且买了一个启瓶器，用来在水瓶盖上钻了数个大小不一的孔。通过挤压瓶子，水会滋出来，像是浇灌植物一样，浇灌被“热”击倒的舞者。 永萍忽然觉得应该让“照护”同伴的舞者用嘴巴来喷水。她做了一个示范动作，将水含在口中，通过口腔的压力，喷出雾状的迷你水幕。当香港舞者尝试同样的动作时，有趣的时刻发生了：她无法喷出足够细密的水雾，水滴从她的嘴里流淌出来，不能达到足够的“射程”距离。这是我第一次意识到，原来一个喷水的动作，也并不如想象中一样可以“共享”。身体运动的的每一个瞬间（在这个时刻是口腔）都会调用我们平时无法意识到的肌肉力量和协同性的生理网络（例如呼吸配合、肺活量等等），所以即便是平常如“用嘴喷水”的动作，也完全不似我们想象中那样可以通约。 我经常认为舞蹈相比于语言，更容易跨越个体的文化边界，但是几乎没有意识到原来身体也有自己的“边界”：不是一种经过训练后的舞者身体，而是任何一个作为协同网络的身体系统。一口含在嘴里难以喷出的水，它提出了一个问题：也许我们过于高估了身体的通约性？也许，像语言一样，身体也有自己的“巴别塔”。 The afternoon sunlight filtered through the trees. Not all of the dancers were present for rehearsal, so Yongping decided to spend some time discussing one particular scene with the group. In this scene, one dancer lies on the ground,…

Léa Tirabasso As a dancer, Léa has collaborated with a wide range of companies and choreographers in the UK and across Europe. Her choreographic work has been presented across Europe and internationally, at festivals and platforms such as Aerowaves (CR), Tanzmesse Düsseldorf (DE), Le Festival d’Avignon at CDCN – Les Hivernales (FR), the Seoul International Dance…

Observing Tsang Wing Fai choreographic process for this year’s theme Out of Place brings to the fore not only how the theme is interpreted by the choreographer, but how, as entangled and non-linear as any choreographic process, the practice becomes a chain of encounters between humans and non-human actants through which choreographic material, motifs,…

In the corner of a large commercial building lies a quiet, hidden jungle-like sanctuary. Within this secluded space stand several tent-like structures of various sizes, woven from curved wooden sticks. Among these structures, surrounded by plants and greenery, the dancers begin an intimate dialogue through their bodies. Their movements unfold…

By Yu-Ling Chao The 2026 London ArtsCross presents 8 outdoor performances (July 10th 12:30 at Regent’s Place, and 16:00 at Russell Square) under the theme of ‘Out of Place’ (舞越異境 in traditional Chinese, or 舞越异境 in simplified Chinese).The theme in traditional Chinese indicates dancing cross the ‘strange realm’. The traditional Chinese character for ‘strange’ (異) is…

ArtsCross London 2026 Out of Place  /  舞越異境  /  舞越异境 Friday 10 July 2026 4:00 p.m Russell Square Running Order 《我们之间》《 Among Us》by Ma Nan 马南 ⭕ by Wang Ruping 王如萍 The Laughters  by Léa Tirabasso (H-O-H) by Tsang Wing Fai 曾詠暉 Programme 《我们之间》《 Among Us》 Choreographer: Ma…

ArtsCross London 2026 Out of Place  /  舞越異境  /  舞越异境 Friday 10 July 2026 12:30p.m Regent’s Place Running Order La XXX Punk: Demi-Ami (London) by Fangas Nayaw A Moment Just for Me — Yu Pik Yim 余碧艷 So Hot by Cheng Yongping 成永苹 What a difference…

07 July 2026 During Fai’s rehearsal process (2 July), I observed how he guided dancers to explore the Head–Tail connection as a way of developing a more integrated bodily awareness. Dancer A engaged in free movement exploration, investigating internal sensations and movement possibilities through the dynamic relationship between the head and the tail. Through…

3 July 2026  At Regent’s Place, Fangas guided the dancers through a series of explorations focused on the relationship between the collective body and space. The creative process began with a circular formation, where dancers established a shared sense of group awareness through synchronized and repetitive movement patterns. Within this circular structure, all…

For fluidity to truly occur, the entire environment must be in harmony. Every element in the chain of transmission must become a conduit; energy must not get stuck anywhere. I was particularly fascinated by the responses of passersby. Would their reactions interrupt or break the flow? Londoners, to my great delight, proved to be remarkably “professional” spectators.…

It is my first time participating in ArtsCross London 2026, and it has truly been a pleasure. These three weeks have been filled with both joy and challenge. One of the main challenges both dancers and choreographers faced was the heat wave. However, I am grateful for it, as it unexpectedly gave…

A Provocation on ArtsCross, Site-Specific Dance, and University Social Responsibility Presented by WU Yi-Jung @ ArtsCross Scholars Forum 11 July, 2026 Good afternoon, everyone. As the Chair of the Dance Department at the University of Taipei, I have spent the past few years thinking about one question: What does University Social Responsibility actually…

To call the ArtsCross website out of place is not to say the creative process has been misplaced or lost. It is to name an ontological condition. Two modes of being are at play: the creative process and performance as an embodied, present-tense experience unfolding over three weeks, and the website as an archive persistent, textual, retrievable, held…