Choreographer Dam Van Huynh Presents New Solo Work IN REALNESS

Choreographer Dam Van Huynh is presenting a new solo work, In Realness, an unflinching take on personal and global political issues that combines movement and vocal expressionist sound in response to social inequalities.

Over the past fourteen years, Van Huynh Company have brought challenging and political works to the UK dance scene. Drawing upon Choreographer Dam Van Huynh's personal history as a Vietnamese child refugee growing up in the West, In Realness, dives fearlessly into the choreographer's experience with his queerness. The work was created as a place of resistance to these oppressions and as a fertile ground for solidarity, inviting audiences in, to raise our voices together. Collective activism as a form of collective care. The work will premiere at Rich Mix on 13th and 14th May.

Van Huynh says about the work, 'as a child refugee growing up in the West, I was always ashamed of my Vietnamese heritage, feeling of displacement, queerness. Through the making of this solo, I wanted to raise my voice unapologetically and empower myself and others'.

The solo was developed through a making process Van Huynh calls 'junkyard art'. This process involves a visceral collage of quotations, movement, sound-art, and performance-art drawn together to form new perspectives. In Realness, works with texts by Walt Whitman, Audre Lorde, Pussy Riot, Alok Vaid-Menin (ALOK), Henry David Thoreau. The work draws on Van Huynh's signature highly physical movement style working with dance artist Tommaso Petrolo and Hong-Kong based composer Ian Tang. The work was made in November 2021 via zoom, emails and Whatsapp in an effort to combat the challenges presented by the pandemic by finding creative, alternative ways of engaging imaginatively in the making process. Van Huynh Company established a relentless approach which demonstrates resilience and drive regardless of the circumstances. About this, Huynh says, 'You can't really suppress art making - if it's going to come out it'll come out'.

This work is supported by Centre 151 the Community Centre for Refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (VLC) and Rich Mix. For more information please visit: https://www.damvanhuynh.com/work/in-realness

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

In Realness
Van Huynh Company
Date: 13-14 May
Time: 19:30
Venue: Rich Mix, E1 6LA
Tickets: £12/£10
Box office: 020 7613 7498
https://richmix.org.uk/events/in-realness/

In Realness is an artistic collage of sounds, collected texts, and movement references which stand in resistance of the status quo. Dam Van Huynh, as a queer Vietnamese artist, opposes stereotypes of Asian politics as being quiet and internal. He embodies through his piece a dissent from prejudices and inequality, and its effects on our society. Desmond Tutu said 'if you are neutral in the face of injustice, you are on the side of the oppressor'. Remembering such words lifts us out of silence and stirs up collective activism and collective care. Individual voices, brought together, create a body of resistance against oppressive norms and behaviours, amplifying our resilience, building unity and communicative power.

Van Huynh Company

The company was formed in 2008 as a creative base to support Dam Van Huynh's work and collaborations. Located in Hackney - East London, it is also the creative driving force of Centre 151, promoting arts/culture and community inclusion at every level. Recent works by the company include Đa??p, Gesundheit!, Under This Weight (duet), Đa??p (solo). Van Huynh Company has toured throughout Europe and beyond. Some of the company's appearances include: Sadler's Wells, Laban Theatre and The Place (UK), Busan Festival (Korea), Gothenburg Dance and Theatre Festival (Sweden), Festival Morelos Tierra de Encuentro (Mexico), Dance Bridges Festival (India), AURA International Dance Festival (Lithuania), Gdansk Dance Festival (Poland), Festival del Silenzio (Italy). Each work is unique and explores new creative territories to engage and challenge audiences. Their new creation Re:birth will premiere in the UK in 2022. The company has received numerous awards such as The Place Prize Audience Award and 1st Prize at Zawirowania International Choreography Competition. Đa??p presented at Edinburgh Festival Fringe was the Winner of Asian Arts Award for Best Direction and was received with much acclaim by the audience and the press. "throughout Dep, I am on the edge of my seat." The Guardian. Wishing to share knowledge and experiences across cultures, Van Huynh Company is associated with Dance Bridges Festival, a cutting edge international dance biennial festival taking place in Kolkata, India (next edition August 2022). Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Vimeo

Dam Van Huynh

Originally from Southern Vietnam, Dam Van Huynh is a UK/Hong Kong based dancer/ choreographer. As a child refugee, his family and he fled Vietnam after the war and settled in the USA where Dam was raised. He founded his own dance company in 2008, Van Huynh Company. Dam was appointed Artistic Director of Centre 151 in 2016 - a vibrant hub for culture, arts and community based in East London. He is the Associate Director of Dance Bridges Festival - biennial dance festival taking place in Kolkata, India. His work is an implicit and ongoing attempt to synthesise the most dynamic and revolutionary facets of the dual aspects of his Vietnamese heritage and Western influences harmoniously informing a personal and creative expression. Dam graduated from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee and has worked as a performer with various companies including The Nevada Ballet, Merce Cunningham, Portugal's Companhia de Dança Contemporânea, Richard Alston, Phoenix Dance Theatre. As an award-winning choreographer, his works are performed internationally and include commissions from National Dance Company of Mexico (CEPRODAC), Unlock Dancing Plaza (Hong Kong), British Museum, Fóramen M. Ballet (Mexico). His latest creations include Đa??p, Under This Weight, Gesundheit! and Groovething. Dam has collaborated with a wide range of composers including Elaine Mitchener, Martyna Poznanska, David Toop, Jamie Hamilton, Hannah Kendall, Tansy Davies, Rie Nakajima, Dai Fujikura, George Lewis, Jason Yarde, Laure M. Heindl, Matana Roberts. He directed his first opera in 2015 Of Leonardo da Vinci and has since then collaborated with Mitchener on commissions by MaerzMusik and Donaueschinger Musiktage. He worked as Movement Director for Tom Morris and Lee Hall at The National Theatre. Future engagements include: Van Huynh Company new creation Re:birth, Robert Rauschenberg Residency, creative residency with Festival Oriente Occidente. https://www.damvanhuynh.com/

Tommaso Petrolo

Over the past 12 years Tommaso has built an extensive career as a performer and more recently as a maker. Based in the UK since 2016 he has collaborated as a performer with the likes of Van Huynh Company, for which he works as Artistic Assistant and Rehearsal Director, Tavaziva, Mathieu Geffré, Neus Gil Cortés, Joao Cidade, Martino Muller, Rob Heaslip Dance Company amongst others.

His previous works as a choreographer include two majorly acclaimed solos: She (2019) commissioned by Dance Bridges Festival (IN), PrEp ME (2017) performed at The Point Eastleigh as part of Pitch dealing with Queer thematics. Tommaso has worked with renown composers such as Elaine Mitchener, Dai Fujikura, Tansy Davies, Matt Wright, Laure M. Hiendl and through these collaborations his practice has expanded across disciplines to include extended forms of vocal improvisation. His dance training with established artists has laid the foundations on which he thrives today both as a performer and educator. After graduating from Balletto di Roma in ballet technique (2009) he moved to N.Y.C. to complete his contemporary dance studies at Peridance Capezio Center. There he joined Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, directed by Igal Perry and performed with renown choreographers such as Sidra Bell, Francesca Harper (Forsythe), Charlotta Hofverholm (DV8), Manuel Vignoulle (Cedar Lake), Gregory Dolbashian (The Ensemble), amongst others. His teaching skills are in demand and he has collaborated with The Place (LCDS), Tripspace, The Hub Studios, Canterbury Christ Church University, Rambert, London Studio Centre, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Ian Tang

Hong Kong-based composer and sound designer, Ian Tang, has been composing and producing music for different projects, from dance to documentaries, theatre, and film; Besides, as a sound artist, Ian is pursuing his research in motion capturing, interactive programming, and generative computer music, and integrate those elements within live performance and installation.

Photo credit: Rocio Chacon