Quartet No. 8
© Qianshan Weng
© Qianshan Weng
© Qianshan Weng
© Qianshan Weng
Dance
Quartet No. 8 stems from my desire to unlearn my years of training in Chinese Ballet and the military-themed dances I was made to perform in my middle school’s dance company. Shostakovich’s deeply autobiographical music, written as a silent protest against Stalin’s oppressive regime, comes to mind as an expression of both the despair over and the struggle against forces that coerce us into involuntary movement. Bringing up each dancer’s personal dance history, this piece distorts and recombines our familiar ways of moving, trying to deconstruct the different types of momentum that we feel are perpetually pushing us. Three different arrangements of the music are interwoven and juxtaposed with the text of Celan’s poem “Todesfuge,” as Olivia Bobadilla’s original costume design brings to life a paradox between shabbiness and elegance.
Choreography: ZIWEI 子维
Performance: Gabrielle Davis, Lauren Jeffery, Imanie Jeter, Olivia Kaufman
Costume Design: Olivia Bobadilla
Music: Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 8 in C minor; performed by Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Boris Giltburg, and Borodin Quartet
Projected Text: Paul Celan, “Todesfuge”; English translation by ZIWEI 子维
Lighting / Technical Support: Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre crew
Video Documentation: Karen Chan
Photography: Qianshan Weng
Presented in Dancers/Choreographers Alliance Fall 2023 Showcase: Momentum
Presentations
Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre, New York, USA