Animated Winter 2023 - My East is not your East

Jane Chan invites us to consider a questioning practice: who we are and where we speak from to make true connection across cultures and experiences.

Dance After Lockdown

Outcome: Animation & Documentary 2022

Force Majeure is both documentary and animation. It draws on a series of interviews with freelance dance artists during the COVID-19 pandemic to tell the story of one fictional person’s experience of dance under lockdown.

A film by Magali Charrier and Simon Ellis
Voiceover: Joanne “Bob” Whalley

Thanks to all the participants of the Dance after Lockdown project, and to Rosa Cisneros, Rowan McLelland, Natasha Player, Jane Chan, Alesandra Seutin, Gillie Kleiman, Marisa Zanotti and Nicholas Keegan.

The script for Force Majeure was developed by Simon Ellis and draws from interviews with freelance dance artists held during the COVID-19 pandemic. These interviews were facilitated by Rowan McLelland as part of the Dance after Lockdown research project at C-DaRE - a pilot study ran between January – April 2021

Click here for Force Majeure

Toynbee Takeover | Ways of Being Together Shared Residency initiated by Jo Fong | 7 – 18 February 2022

Open Practice, Rehearsals, Studies, Experiments, Try Outs, Sharing, Conversation.

Relaxation, Well-being, Solo Practice, Play, Improvise, Connect, Devise, Shut the door, lie down and listen to music!

Jo Fong invited the London Ways of Being Together contributors to share this two-week residency. Its part of Artsadmin’s 6 month programme of residencies and when they first offered it, my first thought was to share it.

It will be the 2nd anniversary of our performance that took place in February 2020. Fourteen artists will be leading sessions, some will be open to WoBT contributors and guests and some will be invited into private studio time.

Its a chance to re-connect, repair, replenish and continue a conversation.

The artists

Jane Chan, Jasmine Chiu, Laura Lee Greenhalgh, Elina Akhmetova, Jay Yule, Loe D’Arcy, Dawn Collins, Iris Chan, Jia-Yu Corti, Kuan-Yu Chen, Linzy Na Nakorn, Hazel Lam, Sophie Nuzel and myself, Jo Fong will be leading, facilitating and holding space for new investigation. People have delved and come forward with proposals that I feel reflect the time. Power, presence, provocations, protest, grief, motherhood, masculinity, menstruation, faith and grace.

To the side is learning, exchange, coming out, co-creating, co-producing a shift in how things can come into being.

There will be us, our guests and dancing.

Click here for more details

Cosmopolitan Voices by Cosmopolitan Arts - exhibition 14-18 July 2021, live streamed 20 July 2021

Various voices on heritage, culture, race, racism and how these affect individuals and their communities in Britain today.

We exist, we belong, we are of value, we are here, we are alive, we are human, we are knowledge, we are our ancestors, we are our culture, we are enough, We Are, yes

We are

Catch The Bird Who Won’t Fly by Amina Khayyam Dance Company - released on 9 Dec 2020

Humbled to have worked over the lockdowns and be part of the company in the past years that make works that offer a voice to the less heard.

The latest production from AKDC is a digital kathak dance-theatre performance in response to theatres shut for most of the year. Catch The Bird Who Won't Fly brings attention to the devastating reality of increase, during lockdown, of a crime often shrouded in secrecy - domestic violence against women. Comprising four individual stories, Catch The Bird Who Won’t Fly has been made ‘remotely’ during lockdown, poignantly narrating, through Kathak dance, real life experiences that were researched with AKDC’s network of women groups including Southall Black Sisters. Choreographed, written and directed by Amina Khayyam with video design by Louise Rhodes-Brown and music design by RENU, Catch the Bird… features Tabla & Daf by Debasish Mukherjee; Vocals by Lucy Rahman Sohini Alam and Rup Khatkar; Cello by Iain McHugh. Performers include Jane Chan, Mithun Gill and Amina Khayyam. Produced & Dramaturgy by Hardial S. Rai

On Race and Racism in UK’s Contemporary Dance by Jane Chan | 17 Jan 2020

Full Article here

Apart from dance, I have thoroughly fell in love with words, text, poetry... They sometimes dagger your heart, sometimes warm your soul, sometimes make you feel profoundly understood... I have been humbled to be invited to write an article for Contemporary Dance and Whiteness project team On Race and Racism in UK's Contemporary Dance. See above for full article if you are interested. 

Some very encouraging and generous feedback from fellow artists:

'She is loud, she is brave, she is clear, She speaks and does not fear' - Ghostandjohn

'What a voice she has in art and about everything systematic racism in art space and beyond...fiercely humble talk about race' - Xie.jin.hao .

Humbled to be one of the Darbar voices, thank you for having me

'I have always been a culture-nerd and kathak is the confluence of culture and dance. To me, kathak may be a dance form that has a long history with ancient traces, however it is not ‘ancient’, it is very much alive and ever-changing just like any other dance form. Kathak is central to my practice as an independent dance artist. I see myself as an advocate for kathak by presenting myself as a dance artist who is dedicated and committed to practising kathak regardless of my cultural background. It is essential to have artists who are of different backgrounds who practise classical Indian music and dance as they represent diverse narratives, which add to a wide context of history that is vital for generations to come.

It also shows that the art forms have universal appeal and are not exclusive to people from particular cultural backgrounds. In the world today, the arts are needed more so than ever to bring people together to celebrate the creativity and energy of diversity. I question and reclaim cultural and social misrepresentation of my presence and visibility as a British-Chinese artist who practises kathak. I hope my practice will act as a catalyst, to invite the audience to a movement, a discourse, a wider conversation about multiculturalism, arts and collective experience.’

Published 20 Nov 2018

Images by Simon Richardson

Full article: http://blog.sadlerswells.com/the-history-and-evolution-of-kathak-darbar-voices/

Our Death Won't Hurt Anyone - Part 1 Loosely Inspired 'Art of War' by Sunzi | by Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio & Teatro de los Sentidos | West Kowloon Cultural District & Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona | 6-8 Jul 2018 | GREC Festival de Barcelona | Barcelona, Spain

Dramaturgy & Direction: Tang Shu-Wing Advice & training: Enrique Vargas Associate Direction: Arianna Marano Direction assistant: Jacky Chan Stage Design: Gabriella Salvaterra Lighting design: Pancho García Costume design: Patrizia Menichelli Sound & music design: Stephane Laidet Technical direction: Karl Sørensen Actors: Jane Chan, Stephane Laidet, Arianna Marano, Ivy Pang, Eva Pérez, Giovanna Pezzullo, Wong Chun Him, Masu Wong, Rocky Wong Production: Carlos Calvo, Bobo Lee Production assistant: Lisa Mercury

More details here

Flooded with Ice / Hell Fire Can't Scorch me | By Zadie Xa | 1 Jun 2018 | Purcell Room, Southbank Centre

part of In Conversation with Lee Bul and Performance by Zadie Xa

Choreographer: Jane Chan

Performer: Jane Chan | Jihye Kim | Nam Yoon Kim | Zadie Xa

Text: Taylor Le Melle and Zadie Xa

Costume: Benito Mayor Vallejo and Zadie Xa.

THE CIRCUIT - A MOVEMENT SCENARIO | By Moi Tran

8 Jun 2019 | PQ Formations | Prague Quadrennial 2019, Prague, Czech Republic

28 Oct 2018 | Ipswich Art Gallery | SPILL Festival, Ipswich, UK

25 Jan 2018 | Roostein Hopkins Parade Ground, Chelsea College of Arts, London, UK

18 Jan 2018 | Oval Space, London, UK

Curator: Nadine Cordial Settele

Live Musician: Yung-Yee Chen

Ensemble: Iris Chan, Jane Chan, Jenny Logico Cruz, Sung Im Her, Annie Pui Ling Lok, Hazel Lam, HaeYeon Lim, Jodie Judy Lu Ying Chu, Mei Mac, Kumiko Mendl

"In today’s world, understood in terms of multitude politics, of circulations and mobility, a tender desire is stirring to create a new set of relations amongst us, instead of simply being anchored in a context we are turning to anchor on each other."

The Circuit is an improvised, durational movement piece conceptualised by artist Moi Tran, presented by six dancers and a live musician. Coloured floor tape is used to demarcate a six-lane track varying in size, dependent on location. The Circuitous track represents continuum and journey, whilst the action of walking speaks of commonplace, everyday rituals and behaviours that tend to be overlooked. All the dancers are female of East-Asian ethnicity. As they step onto the track in unison, they commit to each other and the action of walking within their chosen lane for the duration of the piece in this collective experience.

Open and intimate, The Circuit manifests a viewing experience of physical and psychological intensity. It encourages the dissolution of borders and evokes an immersive union of artists and viewers - from which the latter can engage, or disengage and re-engage, at any point.

Central to the piece is the question: what defines an East Asian woman in a contemporary context, noting the Asian diaspora has provoked new dialogues pertaining to culture and identity across the globe?

The Circuit can be seen metaphorically as the beginning of a journey, a prologue - charting the territories through which a possible future dialogue on the identity of the East-Asian woman might move, outlining possible boundaries, and proposing routes through the modern flux of shifting and sometimes violently abrading identities, acknowledging both the continuing power of historical narratives and the ultimate impossibility of final destination and closure, by stripping away to reach a state in which identity can be formed anew.

City Monologue | by Jane Chan, Jihye Kim and Joonghong Min | 28 Nov 2017

Performer: Jane Chan, Jihye Kim and Joonhong Min

We live in the city. We feel the problems of current situation: contradiction of accepted system, gaze of others and individual alienation in this city. We acknowledge these issues, feelings and express them in our ways.

We are fugitives. We are constantly trying to escape from social restraints, customs and expectations. We struggle. We resist. And we survive.

We are chroniclers. Our chronicles are recorded through art, music and movement. Society informs our chronicles yet overwhelms our senses which interfere with our focus on thing that matter in our daily lives. This performance is a way for us to express some of our struggles living in the city. 

Where is the riot at? | by Katja Verheul | 23 Sep 2017

Concept: Katja Verheul 

Performer: Jane Chan 

2017 / HD / 15 min. documentation

One female riot police officer is sent to the wrong location and accidentally ends up on Deptford High Street. She asks the unsuspected passer-by - where is the riot at? - while performing her routine.

Supported by Deptford X and the Mondriaan Fund 

BLOCK UNIVERSE PRESENT ZADIE XA | CRASH, BOOM, HISSSSSSS. LEGEND OF THE LIQUID SWORD | 1 Jun 2017

Choreographer: Jane Chan

Performer: Jane Chan | Jihye Kim | Joonhong Min | Zadie Xa

Text: Taylor Le Melle

Costume: Benito Mayor Vallejo and Zadie Xa.

Creating an immersive environment for this performance at the Lancaster Rooms at Somerset House, Zadie Xa’s work interrogates ideas of authentic versus inherited positions and displacement within the Asian diaspora. Through a fantastical overlayering of cultural references, Crash, Boom, Hisssssss. Legend of the Liquid Sword will transport the audience into a supernatural narrative inhabited by shamanistic beings, based on Manshin (Korean shaman) and loosely inspired by Pansori, a Korean genre of musical storytelling performed by a vocalist and a drummer. 

Performance images by Arron Leppard for Block Universe

These Girls |by Roxi Rahmanzadeh

An ongoing portrait series of multi-heritage British girls living in London. It is about a country that makes it possible for the Persian son of a chandelier maker to open the doors of his student house to the daughter of a European Jewish doctor. Inside, is their future, their lives together and 10 years on: me, and my sister. 

If I were a pie chart it would read 1/8 Lithuanian, 1/8 Ukrainian, 1/4 English and 1/2 Iranian. 

But I am not a pie chart and neither are these girls. 

We are the product of many cultures mixing with this one. Of over apologising, unpredictable weather and hope that this time England might just win the football. A country that on a good day is accepting and diverse. Now more that ever this should be celebrated because we need more good days. - Roxi Rahmanzadeh

Saturday Live: Zadie Xa, Linguistic Legacies and Lunar Exploration at Serpentine Galleries | 13 Aug 2016

Artist Zadie Xa presented a new live work that brought together dancers, painted and sculptural elements. Inspired by Talchum, or Korean Mask Drama, Linguistics Legacies and Lunar Exploration followed a non-linear narrative, seeking magic, rituals and the alliance of friendship. 

Choreographed by Jane Chan and Eunjung Kim

Performed by Jane Chan | Soojin Hong | Eunjung Kim | Joonhong Min

Film by Nye Williams  

Sweet Design Studio

Thank you Ese Akpojotor for featuring me on your first My Body Celebration Series.