Archive
FLYING WHITE — 飞白

Co-created by Wen Wei Wang (Artistic Director of Wen Wei Dance), Owen Underhill (Composer, Artistic Director of Turning Point Ensemble), Dorothy Chang (Composer)
Choreographer Wen Wei Wang in collaboration with the dancers
Composers Owen Underhill and Dorothy Chang
Performers
6 dancers from Wen Wei Dance:
Dario Dinuzzi, Eowynn Enquist, Ralph Escamillan, Sarah Formosa, Daria Mikhaylyuk, Matthew Wyllie

13 live musicians on stage:
8 from Turning Point Ensemble:
Jeremy Berkman (Trombone), Jonathan Bernard (Percussion), Paolo Bortolussi (Flute/Piccolo/Alto Flute), Liam Hockley (Clarinet, Bass Clarinet), Kimberly Kistler (Cello), Janelle Nadeau (Harp), Jesse Read (Bassoon), Kinneret Sieradzki (Violin)

5 from Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra:
Pei-Ling Chang (Pipa), Kuang-Chih Cheng (Erhu), Dai-Lin Hsieh (Guzheng), Ling-Hsuan Shen (Sheng), Lan Tung (Erhu)
with Conductor Owen Underhill
Costume Designer Linda Chow
Lighting Designer Jonathan Kim
Scenic Design Consultant and Technical Director Mark Eugster
Production and Stage Manager Kimberly Plough

 

Duration 90 minutes (not including intermission)

 

Premiere January 31, February 1 – 2, 2020 at SFU Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre
PuSh International Performing Arts Festival 2020 in partnership with SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs

“Flying white” is a rare and extraordinary form of Chinese calligraphy that jumps and leaps on the paper surface in graceful beautiful strokes, the black ink revealing a white background. The motion and aesthetic of this calligraphy and the philosophy of the elements—wood, fire, earth, metal, and water are the foundations for the artistic vision of this new work Flying white – 飞白.

 

Mobile and delicate, flying white is like meteors passing through the sky, or hair fluttering in the wind. The piece explores the space between black and white, inhale and exhale, east and west, and sound and movement. Furthermore, integrating six dancers and an intercultural ensemble of twelve musicians, interacting on stage and with representations of elements including rice, paper, water, silk, and ink.

 

Co-presented by PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and Turning Point Ensemble
Co-produced by SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs, Turning Point Ensemble, and Wen Wei Dance

 

Both organizations have and are grateful for operating funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council and the City of Vancouver. Supported through The Dance Centre’s Artist-in-Residence Program.

THE LAKE | N-HA-A-ITK

Based on the opera The Lake by Barbara Pentland and Dorothy Livesay

 

Performed August 15–17, 2014 Quails’ Gate Winery, West Kelowna, BC

 

A Performance in Collaboration from Astrolabe Musik Theatre, Turning Point Ensemble and Westbank First Nation

 

The Lake | N-ha-a-itk was a unique collaborative project between Westbank First Nation, Astrolabe Musik Theatre, the Turning Point Ensemble and Quails’ Gate Winery. During the performance, Westbank First Nation songs and dances, newly created scenes and a new work by composer Leslie Uyeda were integrated into an historical opera entitled The Lake by Barbara Pentland (composer) and Dorothy Livesay (librettist). The opera was composed in 1952 and is set in 1873 on the very site now occupied by Quails’ Gate Winery. The opera tells the story of four historical characters—pioneer Susan Allison, her husband John Allison, Métis handyman and guide Johnny MacDougall and their syilx child nurse and helper Marie.

 

This production was also the subject of a new documentary short from Opus 59 Films, commissioned by CMC BC for its Legacy Composer Series.