– NEWS –

SOLOTUS
4-5 May 2024 20:00
https://apal.info
Venue: Berliner Ringtheater 
A solo edition of the Lotus Fight Club. It refers to a sodomy law dating back to the colonial era which is still in force in Malaysia and provides for corporal punishment in the form of flogging.

SYNC
12 May 2024 14:00-18:00
KUNSTHAUS HAMBURG
Finissage with performance by Raymond Liew Jin Pin & Jascha Viehstädt

 

Kampung Baru (New Village)

Photo: Photo: Thies Rätzke


(DE) Ein langer Tag, ein ruhiger Mittagsschlaf, eine kühle Nacht, eine Feier, ein Fest der Erinnerungen – manche bereits zerstreut, manche nicht länger greifbar. Alles findet in einem Wirrwarr von Gefühlen und Bildern zusammen. Während eine neue Gemeinschaft und ein neues Dorf entsteht, ziehen Landschaften langsam vorüber. Alltägliche Abläufe verflechten sich miteinander, ziehen die Aufmerksamkeit auf sich und verblassen wieder. Auf der Suche einer zeitgenössischen Entsprechung dieser alten Idee von Dörflichkeit taucht der malaysische Choreograph Raymond Liew Jin Pin in seiner neuen Arbeit Kampung Baru (New Village) in die Welt der traditionellen malaiischen, chinesischen und indischen Tanzbewegungen ein. Zusammen mit drei zeitgenössischen Tänzer*innen interpretiert er seine kulturellen Wurzeln neu und verkörpert in einem Zusammenkommen von Altem und Neuem, Ost und West, “Tradition” und “Moderne“ seine eigene Biographie. Am Ende liegt das meiste davon demontiert vor den Betrachter*innen – aber der Raum der Party, die Hitze, der Gesang und das Gefühl von Gestern und Morgen sind immer noch da und warten geduldig darauf, verlassen und wieder besucht zu werden.

// A long day, a quiet nap, a chill night, a celebration, a feast of memories – some already dissipated, and some you can no longer remember. Everything coming together in a jumble of emotions and images. As a new village appears and landscapes slowly move, you observe daily routines that interlace with each other, attracting attention and fading away. In search of a new village and a contemporary zone, Raymond Liew Jin Pin delved into the field of traditional Malay, Chinese and Indian dance movements. He allows himself – and three contemporary dancers – to reinterpret his cultural roots and embody his biography, to merge old and new, east and west, „tradition“ and „modernity“. And at the end, most of it disassembled, the space of the party, the heat, the song, are still there, waiting for you to revisit.

Co-Creation and Perform: Jascha Viehstädt, Bianca Pulungan, Isabella Boldt and Raymond Liew Jin Pin
Original cast with: Anca Huma, Kathrina Wilke
Music: Ng Chor Guan
Costume: Min Li
Licht Design: Till Dittmar
Dramaturg: Niklaus Bein, Anne Kersting
Camera: Mathias Hollaender, Jan Schlünzen 
Editing/Postproduction: Mathias Hollaender 
Assistant: Marina Contu


Supported by: Hamburgische Kulturstiftung and Goethe Institute Malaysia
Made possible with the programme Producing under Corona Conditions of the Dachverband freie darstellende Künste Hamburg, on behalf of Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Behörde für Kultur und Medien.

TOUCH (Continue III)

A DANCE PIECE IN 13 TRAILERS (Digital Format)

Concept, Choreography, Camera: Raymond Liew Jin Pin
Concept, Performer, Editing: Jascha Viehstädt 
Thereminist, Musik: Ng Chor Guan

TOUCH is a multidisciplinary performance between movement, sound and video that deals with the meaning of touch.

The contact of living beings or objects with each other is not only in general the prerequisite for biological life and material existence; as a form of interpersonal communication it is also a central regulator for our physical and emotional well-being. 
TOUCH transfers this idea of physical exchange to a single body and, in an environment of growing individualism and increasing virtuality, explores the necessity and possibilities of touching oneself.

On a spikey orange dot, surrounded by the frequencies of a thereminist and associative video-visuals, a solo dancer aims for a climax and conclusion by giving and receiving touch in a physical and symbolic way.

As the third part of the trilogy CONTINUE, which was developed in 2018, TOUCH was supposed to be premiered on 18.04.2020 at the theaterimballsaal Bonn and was planned to tour in Malaysia in July 2020. 13 trailers are shown online as a digital format of the work and will be part of future live performances as well.

Funded by: Kunststiftung NRW, Goethe Institute Malaysia, Hamburgische Kulturstiftung, Seoul Dance Center, Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA)
Supported by: theaterimballsaal Bonn and K3-Zentrum für Choreographie|Tanzplan Hamburg

Photo Credit: Cho Hyun Woo

Interview by YIYI Production

 

This dancefilm is part of the Sacre/ilège(s)-The Rite of Spring collage project for Body Cinéma/International Video Dance Festival of Burgundy’s 2013 video dance collage project Sacre/ilège(s).


-Concept & Direction-
Bianca Sere Pulungan
-Choreography & Dance-
Bianca Sere Pulungan and Raymond Liew
-Music-
Igor Stravinsky
-Performed & Mixed-
Jay Bacal With additional engineering & mastering by Dietz Tinhof (Vienna Symphonic Library)

Maria Cencaru
A southeast asian cis-sis reunion 

WORLD PREMIERE AND TOURING

02. – 05. Feb 2023 | 20h
WIESE eG, Hamburg

17.-18. Feb 2023 | 20h
PACT Zollverein, Essen

24.-25. Feb 2023 | 20h
Schwankhalle, Bremen

> TICKETS

10750447_10152353144066512_7069730788917715022_o-2

DE Als Kind verkleidete Raymonds Mutter ihn mit einem goldenen Paillettenkleid, setzte ihm eine große Perücke auf und nahm ihn so zu einer Talentshow – obwohl Crossdressing und Homosexualität in Malaysia illegal und tabu waren und immer noch sind. Raymond gewann den 3. Preis. Mehr als 20 Jahre später kehrt Raymond in Drag als Maria Cencaru zurück zu diesem Moment zurück – gemeinsam mit Freund*innen aus der südostasiatischen Diaspora. Aus der gemeinsamen Bewegung formt sich eine queere Erinnerung aus traditionellen, urbanen und zeitgenössischen Tänzen, Bildern und Worten. Maria Cencaru ist der Wunsch, eine Kindheitserinnerung neu zu erleben, die Gemeinsamkeit ihrer unterschiedlichen Identitäten, eine kollektive Bewegung und das lang überfällige cis-sis Familientreffen.

EN As a child, Raymond’s mother dressed him up in a gold sequined dress, put a big wig on him, and took him to a talent show – even though cross-dressing and homosexuality were and still are illegal and taboo in Malaysia. Raymond won third prize. More than 20 years later, Raymond returns to that moment in drag as Maria Cencaru – together with friends from the Southeast Asian diaspora. A queer memory of traditional, urban, and contemporary dances, images, and words is formed from their shared movement. Maria Cencaru is a desire to relive a childhood memory, the commonality of their different identities, a collective movement and the long overdue cis-sis family reunion.

Concept, Choreography and Performance: Raymond Liew Jin Pin
Co-Choreography and Performance: Lee Mun Wai, Amin Alifin, Teddy Ong Xing Kai, Paula Pau
Music: Jascha Hagen
Animation/Visual: shikasketchbook
Stage and Light Design: Jascha Viehstädt
Costume: Catharina Holtgrave, Lagenda Leng (Remake of Maria Cencaru’s Dress) 
Outside Eye: Niklaus Bein
Management: Sina Rundel
PR Assistant: Katrin Krumm 
PR Design: Julia Loeffler, Lukas Besenfelder

Special thanks to: Phitthaya Phaefuang aka Sun, Fairuz Sulaiman and Jan Soutchek)

Koproduktion/Co-production: PACT Essen

Gefördert durch/Funded by:
Behörde für Kultur und Medien Hamburg
NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste
Hamburgische Kulturstiftung
NRW Kunststiftung

Unterstützt durch/Supported by:
STUDIO Hammer Deich

 TONGUE (Continue I) 活壹 -三舌
Liew\Viehstädt
Won the Best Choreographer in a Full-Length Work, Best Set Design, Best Music & Sound Design at the 16th BOH Cameronian Awards 2019 in Malaysia

  

Co-Choreographer/ Dramaturg: Jascha Viehstädt
Performer: Lu Wit Chin, James Kan Che Wai & Raymond Liew Jin Pin
Composer: Ng Chor Guan
Stage Design: Ma Hui Shan
Lighting Design: Tan Eng Heng
Producer: Hoh May Yee
-Synopsis-
Continue is a dance trilogy made up of Tongue,Triangle and Touch, which deals with continuous patterns in nature and human behaviour.The first piece unfolds with three dancers endlessly turning around themselves, encircling their thoughts and how to communicate with the outside world. But their words get stuck in the mouth, questions are lingering on the lips and emotions hover over the tongue. It is this very familiar, yet helplessly private situation that makes them move. With a huge appetite for words, they arm themselves with movement against the dark spells of modern life with all its promising freedom and hidden taboos.And they go on, go on and on and on and on…
活,即不死。舞蹈三部曲《活》,由《三舌》、《三角》及《三色》概念创作组成。第一部《三舌》由三位男舞者呈现。在这么开放的年代里“活”着,很多的发言却似乎都困在口里,疑问都卡在唇齿间,产生出的情绪也都盘旋在舌头上。时间久了,那些滋味是否合胃口也不再重要了。不管能不能在《三舌》里活着,但至少可以打着赤膊往这现今人类与传统规则的矛盾游去。。。。。。

-Review-
Criticsrepublic – Bilqis Hijas 

Supported by Goethe Institute, DPAC, INXO Arts Fund, Toccata Studio, Passion Ma Artistry & City Ballet Academy
Photo Credit: Mark Morris, Muhammad Sulaiman

MERMAID

Liew\Viehstädt

 

With a lot of humor and some dark magic, the German-Malaysian Duo is creating a Mermaid. The two dancers explore the implications of this „hybrid creature“ concerning movement, narration and gender.

MERMAID is an attempt at creating a monster. The two Performers develop in a dancing symbiosis the movement potentials of unity and fusion of two bodies functioning as an entity. They investigate the figure of the mermaid considering its partly dark historic roots as well as its relevance in today’s pop culture. A dance piece emerges that connects a refelction of geopolitic questions of the limits of personal freedom with a humoristic movement research and an appeal to a lust for imagination.

(DE)
MERMAID ist der Versuch, ein Monster zu erschaffen. Zwei Performer entfalten in einer tänzerischen Symbiose Bewegungspotentiale des Zusammenhalts und der Verschmelzung zweier Körper die als Einheit funktionieren. Sie untersuchen die Figur und Geschichte der Meerjungfrau auf ihre historische sowie zeitgenössische Bedeutung und gehen der Frage nach, was diesen Hybrid aus Mensch und Phantasie so reizvoll wie unzertrennbar macht.
In einer Macro-Soundlandschaft des tschechoslowakischen Fieldrecording-Künstlers Slavek Kwi entwickelt sich ein Tanzstück, das einen Appell an die Lust zur Phantasie formuliert und in dem Fragen zu persönlicher Identität, Zugehörigkeit, Gender, Partnerschaft und den Mechanismen gesellschaftlicher Toleranz einen subtilen Spiegel finden.

美人鱼,本质即是奇异的魔兽。两个舞者以身体探索各种聚合与交融的可能性。美人鱼身上既烙印着历史的暗黑故事,也烙印着当代的性别刻板。探问地域政治对个人自由的限制,怀着颠沛的想象力来叩问,以舞创造光怪陆离的肢体探索。

Concept/Choreograph/Perform: Jascha Viehstädt and Raymond Liew Jin Pin
www.jaschaviehstaedt.com
Dramaturg: Isabelle Wapnitz, Signe Koefoed
Music: Slawek Kwi

– Past Event –
Premiere & Co-Production
P-Bodies Festival #02 – Loose Ends www.p-bodies.com
Lofft Das Theater www.lofft.de

Malaysia Tour – G-Six Studio, Johor Bahru
Hin Bus Depot, Georgetown, Penang

(Supported by Goethe Institute,DPAC,Hin Bus Depot)

[arve url=”https://vimeo.com/245106005″ align=”center” /]

Photo Credit : Laura Wiegand, Joie Koo

Without Drowning

Kuk Award, Essen

-Dancer-
Yi-An,Chen
Liliana Ferri
-Music-
Attack, Transition by Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto
-Costume-
Anne Bentgens
-Event-
Kuk Award in Essen

Photo Credit : Gao Shan, Simon Samson Raphael

Wandering Stone

-Dancer-
Linda Pilar Brodhag
Pei-Ching, Huang
Katharina Klassmann
Georgia Kapodistria

…pluck it before it fades.

“I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.”  ZHUANG ZI

-Dancer-
Ching-Yu,Chi
Ying-Chi,Chen
-Music-
Two Songs for Dance, For Teda, Endalaus II
Ólafur Arnald
-Event-
Premiere at the 638 Kilotanz, Essen.

 

Benefit of the Doubt

Maya Dance Theatre (Singapore)

  

-Dancer-
Sun Phitthaya Phaefuang, Sheriden Newman
Bernice Lee, Shahrin Johry
-Company-
Maya Dance Theatre (Singapore)
-Music-
Elevation by Hildur Gudnadottir
Benefit of the Doubt by Dark Dark Dark , album The Snow Magic
-Event-
Premiere at the Release 4.0 , 13 March 2015
Kaatsbaan International Dance Center at Tivoli, 4 June 2015
Random Chapters in Penang Pac

Photo Credit : Ernest Sarino Mandap

I can see you

Tanzfaktur Inkubator Residency Programmed, Köln.

-Dancer-
Jordan Gigout
-Music-
Trioon II
Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto
-Event-
Tanzfaktur Inkubator Residency Programmed in Köln.

INTO ME_AT

Premiere 2016, Essen

  

…is a meeting point of flesh between humans, animals and fruits. By merging traditional dance elements and live art, the two Malaysian artists highlight the deep-seated contradiction between religious ethics and bodily sacrifice in rituals.  This work-in-progress in collaboration with a digital artist is a daring exploration into the intertwining visage of bodies and the corporeal rest.

Choreographer/Dancer: Chai Vivan & Raymond Liew Jin Pin
Media Artist: Daz Disley
Dramaturg/Lighting: Jascha Viehstädt
Music: Traditionelle Music,Terinai & Piring
Meat is Murder by The Smiths
-Event-
Premiere 2016, Essen

Photo Credit : Gao Shan, Ching-Mei Huang

Dear Raymond (solo performance) + Dear Butt (Polaroid Installation)

a recovering journey

  

-Dear Raymond-
This work is about my journey & my survival. I decided to move on with my life with courage, but by no means do I want to forget the nightmare that I experienced in 2013. That is why I challenge myself to undergo it again in the solo. In doing so, I can connect & apologize to the old me – the best way I know how – through  dance performance.

Still to this day, the speedboat driver has not apologized for his action. Due to political & financial troubles, I refrained from filing a lawsuit. I believe, through art this case will be heard! I aim to be strong & inspiring in this performance, so that those who come in contact with “Dear Raymond” can obtain strength & perseverance.

Positive, Love & Passion.

-Dear Butt-
1st August 2013, the left side of my butt muscle was cut off by the propeller of the speedboat while I was canoeing in Tioman Island,Malaysia. I survived. I had done more than 10 reconstructive operations. The doctors had to make skin transplants,muscles transplants, blood vessel transplants & intestine operations etc. Though my body is full of scars I am able to dance again. The Butt has become a sensitive matter for me after the accident. This installation serves as a part of my solo research & as a part of my healing process. I lost my butt & I miss it very much.

-Music-
Hang On Little Tomato by Pink Martini

-Event-
Solo research during the “Choreographic Dialogues” residency   program with dialogue partner, Verena Billinger at PACT in 2015.
Premiere at “Es wird sogar schön” in Essen.
Performed at P-Bodies#1 in Leipzig, Unitanz in Lecce, RAW ARTS SPACE in Kuala Lumpur  and G-SIX STUDIO in Johor Bahru .

[arve url=”https://vimeo.com/213554187″ /]

Photo Credit : Ng Chor Guan

Passing Blue

Solo performance inspired by movie ‘Lan Yu’ 《藍宇》

  

每個人心中都有一片藍
藍是憂鬱 藍是等待人來喜歡
藍是歲月一去不復返
藍是不想有人管
藍是聽得下所有的閒言閒語
藍是色 色即是空~
每個人的夢中都有一片藍
藍是生靈的墳墓 藍是生靈的故鄉
藍是自言自語 藍是冬天賴床
藍是一切的多次方
藍是情人的枕邊細語 藍是自私

你對著藍哭了起來
說它這樣叫人太慌張
藍對著你就像千萬年一般 依舊的
不言不語

-Music-
Blue by Bobby Chen
(蓝~陳昇)

Photo Credit : Joerg Wuestefeld, Foo Chi Wei, Taka Chang

Gone

25th International Competition for Choreography in Hannover

  

Why did it have to happen? Why did it all have to end?
                I have your arms around me, warm like fire ,
but when I open my eyes , you’re gone.
Big big world – Emilia

-Dancer-
Roberta Petti
Linda Pilar Brodhag
Raymond Liew Jin Pin
(2nd cast)
Lim Thou Chun
Kate Soon Fei King
Jeffrey Yong Kwang Shing
-Event-
25th International Competition for Choreography
Mydance Festival in Malaysia

Photo Credit : Ernest Sarino Mandap

FISH

Wettbewerb Contact energy’12 in Erfurt

I walk & run without direction.
You couldn’t see my tears as I am in the water.
Don’t be jealous with my mono-expression.

-Dancer-
Ying-Chi, Chen
Raymond Liew Jin Pin
-Event-
Wettbewerb Contact energy’12.

Music video

[arve url=”https://vimeo.com/213142409″ /]
-Dancer-
Lea Benecke
Just Berger
-Camera-
Daniel Toelke, Adrian Bedoy, Torben Köster
-Editor-
Rajan Shrestha
-Producer-
Simon Baucks

 

 

Photo Credit : Ernest Sarino Mandap

RED HEAD

Solo Duo Festival, Köln

  

Awaiting . . . I see blood and  I see fear
Letting go . . . I see blossom and I live

Dancer: Jordan Gigout, Raymond Liew Jin Pin & Ying-Yun,Chen
Music: Broken Line 1 by Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto (self-edited)
-Event-
Researched during the Tanzfaktur Inkubator Residency Programmed in Köln.
Solo Duo Festival in Köln
Unitanz 2015 Lecce, Italy.

[arve url=”https://vimeo.com/145737508″ /]

Cut the Clouds

Won the Best Group Performance, the Best Lighting Design, the Best Music & Sound Design at the 12th Boh Cameronian Arts Awards in Malaysia

      

Born. Reborn. The clouds roll by.
Something is being born every minute. Something, reborn every other minute.
The clouds, still rolling by. Sun shines through the clouds, cutting them up with its gentle rays of hope.
To witness is to connect to how long a way one has journeyed.
There is always a reason to celebrate.

Synopsis  by Shan Rann

Collaboration between Folkwang Tanz Studio & DPAC Dance Company
Dancer: Ching-Yu Chi, Luiza Braz Batista, Hoi Cheng Sim, Tan Bee Hung,
Rachel Chew Zi Xin, Kyson Teo Khai Shen & Hanna Tan Qiao Han
Composer: Ng Chor Guan
Multi-media Artist: Koo Chia Meng fictionshore.com
Lighting: Tan Eng Heng
-Awards-
Nominated  for Best Choreographer in a Mixed Bill for the 12th Boh Cameronian Arts Awards in Malaysia
Won the Best Group Performance (DPAC Dance Company)
Won the Best Lighting Design
Won the Best Music & Sound Design

Photo Credit : James Quah

The Edge

PRISMA 2017-International Contemporary Dance Festival of Panama

  

A haunting piece created on the edges of life. One peers through the darkness, hiding behind the fear to be seen. There is too much not to be exposed. Still the curiosity pierces through, what goes on with the world out there? Could others take my place? Would I let them?

Drowning.

Different voices of survival. At times aloof, distant. At times deafening, frantic. A perfectly normal person, how desirable. To be or not to be in the limelight, with the world demanding something of you, every passing moment. Finally, the desire, to live on, lives on…

Don’t let me drown.
Synopsis by Shann Rann

Performer: Ching-Yu,Chi, Luiza Braz Batista, Cagdas Ermis & Wladi Bondarenko
Composer: Ng Chor Guan
Mentor: Rodolpho Leoni
Company: Folkwang Tanz Studio
Costume: Anne Bentgens
Lighting: Reinhard Hubert
Lyrics: Cheer Chen
-Event-
Premiere 2014, mix-billed performance with David Hernandez & Mandy Huo
D’motion International Dance Festival 2014 – Programme D: d’Next Choreographer Exchange, was supported by the Goethe-Institut Malaysia and the Royal Arts Gala Fund in cooperation with Rimbun Dahan, my performing arts agency and JKKN.

[arve url=”https://vimeo.com/212802462″ /]