Seeing the Sound and Listening the Move
The traditional preconception is of musicians conveying music sonically while dancers express it visually. We rarely appreciate the bodily movements of musicians independently from the context of the music, typically focusing more on the music itself. However, the physical language of musicians during performance not only serves the functional purpose of playing music, but also contains rich elements of choreography and theatricality beyond their functional purpose of playing music. Conversely, what if a dancer’s movement is not tethered to music, but instead becomes the catalyst for generating sound or sonic imagination?
In this project, choreographer and performer Chan Wai-lok, and composer, sound and media artist Larry Shuen, challenge the conventional notions of the musician-dancer relationship and audio-visual dynamics. By reciprocating and sharing their respective roles, the creators expand the performative dimensions, playfully exploring the connection and disconnection between sound, sight, and the inner experience of musicality.
The metaphorical framing of "stolen ears" and "muffled bell" serves as a conceptual device to expand the audience's perception and interpretation of musicality through the body and the visual realm. Through this interplay of sound and movement, "Stolen Ears; Muffled Bell" invites audience on a journey of perceptual awakening and transforms the way we apprehend the musical impulse. In this work where the familiar becomes strange, and the ordinary is imbued with new wonder, the artists reveal the hidden choreography of sound. It offers a synaesthetic engagement, encouraging the audience to “see” the music and “listen” to the movement in new, embodied, and multisensory ways.
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Chan Wai-lok 陳偉洛
Choreographer & Performer
Hong Kong choreographer and performer completed his studies in P.A.R.T.S. (Belgium). He also studied in SEAD (Austria) after graduating from the Architecture Studies in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His recent works include Reverie (2022), Click (2021) and An Auction without Bass (2021) unfolding perspectives in performativity and choreography. Other works include In the Cloud (2022), provoking the audience’s imagination into body movement and performance; and {POV [TWINK / COUPLE (ASIAN) / EXPERIMENTAL]} (2021) and its video version POV, demonstrating the texture and connection between live and video performance.
Democratic interpretation and emancipation in audience has been one of the major genres he has been exploring in his previous solo Everyone knows what it means to think (2019) and his collaboration with Mariana Miranda, /bI'twi:n/ (2019).
He collaborated with various artists including Cristian Duarte, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Meytal Blanaru, KT Yau, Cherry Leung and Joseph Lee. In 2020, he, together with his fellows, established an independent art space, ngau4 gat1 dei6.
Larry Shuen 孫禮賢
Choreographer, Sound Artist, Performer
Hong Kong composer, sound artist, and media artist Larry Shuen draws deep inspiration from classical music and his extensive training in musical composition. His works often originate from a profound engagement with music, sounds, and the act of listening itself.
Shuen's recent works Deer Enclosure and Every Small Sky reflect on his formative experiences with The Greeners's Sound, a choral society to which he dedicated years of his creative focus. In his collaborative work Goin' Goin' with artist Nga-yan Cheng, Shuen explores the superimposed relationships between field recordings, virtual navigation, and the exercising human body. Increasingly, Shuen has been drawn to the creative potential of musicians' physical gestures, inspiring him to engage closely with choreographers and dancers as a sound designer and interactive media artist. He has expanded his artistic practice to encompass interactive programming, video essays, sound art, installations, performances, and media art - mediums through which he expresses his reflective thoughts on life and the surrounding world.
www.larryshuen.com / https://soundcloud.com/larry-shuen
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Production Team
Concept, Choreographer & Performer
Chan Wai-lok
Concept, Choreographer, Sound artist & Performer
Larry Shuen
Producer
Orlean Lai
Promotion photo
Ray Leung
Production management by orleanlaiproject
“HOTPOT” – production Team
(from City Contemporary Dance Company)
Programme Curator
Yuri Ng
Lighting Designer
Lawmanray
Production Manager
Jason Ma
Deputy Stage Manager
Bee Li
Project Manager
Kevin Cheung
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The 6th HOTPOT East Asia Dance Platform (December 2024) at Yokohama, Japan
Organisers: Yokohama Dance Collection, City Contemporary Dance Festival, SIDance
Co-organiser: YPAM (Yokohama International Performing Arts Meeting)
https://yokohama-dance-collection.jp/program/program09/
The Japan tour is supported by:
Hong Kong Arts Development Council
Acknowledgement:
The concept and idea of the work were conceived and developed from the “FIRST Creation Platform” presented by Freespace, West Kowloon Cultural District.
Hong Kong Arts Development Council supports freedom of artistic expression. The views and opinions expressed in this project do not represent the stand of the Council.
