BLEU NEON
a solo performed entirely from the position of the squat - used as a cultural, political and aesthetic symbol of Asian being. Bleu Neon navigates between fantasized nostalgia, language loss and sexual objectification - all three widely experienced by Asian diasporic populations.
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a solo performed entirely from the position of the squat - used as a cultural, political and aesthetic symbol of Asian being. Bleu Neon navigates between fantasized nostalgia, language loss and sexual objectification - all three widely experienced by Asian diasporic populations.
Read more...
PERFORMANCE
2022
Next at
PuSh Festival 2025
CAM en tournée 2025
2022
Next at
PuSh Festival 2025
CAM en tournée 2025
MIDLAND
screendance project celebrating forgotten satellites, enlivening their ghosts through a sensitive and ritualized dance. Beings dialogue, and answers are given but never understood.
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screendance project celebrating forgotten satellites, enlivening their ghosts through a sensitive and ritualized dance. Beings dialogue, and answers are given but never understood.
Read more...
ORE
screendance project, shot in Saigon (Vietnam), follows 11 dancers in this rich and chaotic city. Believing in a deep and visceral body language, Kim-Sanh Châu & Ray Lavers’s creation is intimate and assumes its own subjectivity. Their work is anchored within space, as well as rythm.
Read more...
screendance project, shot in Saigon (Vietnam), follows 11 dancers in this rich and chaotic city. Believing in a deep and visceral body language, Kim-Sanh Châu & Ray Lavers’s creation is intimate and assumes its own subjectivity. Their work is anchored within space, as well as rythm.
Read more...
KALEIDOSCOPE
Leaning between dance and installation, Kaleidoscope is a colorful sensorial journey where bodies unravel subconscious and fleeting dreams. Floating through concise positions and with gentle corporeity, the dancers Ariane Dessaulles and Melina Stinson, open our oneiric imaginations.
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Leaning between dance and installation, Kaleidoscope is a colorful sensorial journey where bodies unravel subconscious and fleeting dreams. Floating through concise positions and with gentle corporeity, the dancers Ariane Dessaulles and Melina Stinson, open our oneiric imaginations.
Read more...
PERFORMANCE
2018
2018
INNER SMOKE
In Hoa Binh, rural area in Northern Vietnam, large expanses of white smoke can be observed every day. Whether at roadsides, in fields, or even backyards, local light fires every night around 5 p.m. Whether fire is lit in the idea of cleaning, purifying or honouring the deceased, this omnipresent phenomenon becomes obsessive.
Read more...
In Hoa Binh, rural area in Northern Vietnam, large expanses of white smoke can be observed every day. Whether at roadsides, in fields, or even backyards, local light fires every night around 5 p.m. Whether fire is lit in the idea of cleaning, purifying or honouring the deceased, this omnipresent phenomenon becomes obsessive.
Read more...
FR
BLEU NEON
In a distant, fictional Vietnam, the echoes of pop music on cassette tape reverberate against the sounds of modern Vietnamese rap. Châu Kim-Sanh inhabits this space, metamorphosing through bodily states generated by the presence of coloured neon lights. Of this evening blue erupts a purpleness: “bầu trời màu tím xẩm” – an uncertain translation. Eyes closed, the neon haze returns her to the sensation of her ancestral land. Saigon, like many cities in South-East Asia, is flushed with these vivid lights. Here, embodied memory and the imaginary take a ride on a Honda Dream II motorcycle, across a humid sky whose wetness whips the face.
This solo is performed in its entirety from the squat position – a typically Asian posture. Audio recordings bespeckle the choreography, navigating between fantasized nostalgia, loss of language and sexual objectification – all three widely experienced by Asian diasporic populations. In Southeast Asia, rap culture is increasingly popular – giving a voice to a population marked by silence. Rap here is a prayer.
Lyrics (by Jonair) here
Credits
Choreography & performance Kim-Sanh Châu
Music Hazy Montagne Mystique, JONAIR and Rắn Cạp Đuôi Collective
Rehearsal Louise Michel Jackson
Dramaturgy Be Heintzman Hope
Lighting & technic Jon Cleveland
Rap support Vladimir ‘7Starr’ Laurore, LilWaterboi Chuong Trinh, Nguyen Kim Phuong
Shows
MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels)(Canada) April 28-29-30 2022
Festival de danse contemporaine de Sherbrooke (Canada) August 19 2022
Festival Quartier des spectacles /Chinatown (Canada) Sept 23 2022
Semaines culturelles vietnamiennes /CCV Montréal /Maison de la culture NDG (Canada) Oct 4 2023
Festival des arts performatifs de Rouyn-Noranda (Canada) Oct 13 2022
Kinergie (Vietnam) April 5 2023
Krossing Over Art Festival (Vietnam) April 14 2023
Guang Ming College(Philippines) April 20 2023
Performance Curators Initiatives /Dance Forum (Philippines) April 27 2023
Festival FURIES (Canada) July 29 2023
Parcours danse - Séléction officielle /Maison de la culture Janine Sutto Nov 30 2023
Residencies
Institut Français & Dancenter (Vietnam) March 2019
CCOV (Canada) July 2021
Maison de la culture Marie Uguay (Canada) December 2021
MAI (Canada) 2021-22
Financial Support
Above residecy partners
+
FTA Respirations
Conseil des arts de Montréal
Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec
Conseil des arts du Canada
Total budget of $44,000 (research & production) - hourly rate base of $35/h for all
Direction Kim-Sanh Châu
With Louise Michel Jackson, Jean-Paul Rousseau Kim-Sanh Châu
Music Hazy Montagne Mystique
Sound design Sandy Pinteus
C’est à l’orée des bois que se croisent des coupoles et des corps.
Leurs dialogues inaudibles imprègnent les roches à l’encre mauve.
Lueurs de l’aube. Soleil froid.
Capter l’impalpable. Danser l’invisible.
Ce court-métrage célèbre des coupoles oubliées, et les imagine vivantes à travers une danse sensible et ritualisée.
Des êtres y dialoguent, des langues se répondent sans se comprendre.
MIDLAND a été réalisé dans une grande solitude. Dans la noirceur de l’aube, Châu a voyagé à travers le Québec sur ma petite moto de 1976 afin de capter ces images. De façon très intime, ce vidéo touche à l’attachement au territoire, de la beauté tout comme de la violence qui peuvent naitre du sentiment d’appartenance, de possession et de leurs contraires.
***
It’s at the edge of the woods that satellites and bodies intersect.
Their inaudible dialogues steep the stones in purple ink.
Gleams of dawn. Cold sun.
Capture the intangible. Dance the invisible.
MIDLAND is a screendance project celebrating forgotten satellites, enlivening their ghosts through a sensitive and ritualized dance. Beings dialogue, and answers are given but never understood.
MIDLAND was created in deep solitude. In the shadow of dawn I travelled through Quebec on my small motorbike from 1976 in order to capture these images. Through an intimate lens, this video addresses land ownership, troubled by the simultaneous beauty and violence that stems from the feeling of belonging, of ownership, and their opposites.
***
Tourné en partie durant sa résidence artistique à Marsoui au Salon 58 en octobre 2019, MIDLAND peut se vivre comme une incursion dans différents paysages bruts. Qu'ils s'agissent d'installations permanentes ou éphémères, de constructions naturelles ou nées de l'intervention humaine, les lieux dépeints dans MIDLAND dégagent une poésie sans artifice.
ㅡ Priscilla Guy, commissaire (Salon 58)
***
Residencies Salon 58
Screening Living Away fest, NYC US (July 21 2020), Salon 58 (July 23 2020), Rendez-vous du cinema québecois (April 28 2021), Festival Filministe (Sept 2-8-15 2021), Image Forum, Tokyo JP (Sept 20 2022), aCinema Space, Milwaukee USA (Nov 15,2022)
Production Equivoc'
Support Salon 58, Mandoline Hybride, Canada art Council
Co-direction, choreography and interpretation Kim-Sanh Châu
Co-direction and cinematography Ray Lavers
Interpretation Dương Văn Quý, Lê Quốc Huy, Lê Hữu Phước, Nguyễn Christina, Nguyễn Mạnh Quyền, Nguyễn Ngọc Tân, Phạm Ngọc Anh, Nguyễn Vũ Hoàng Minh, Sabra Johnson, Trần Trọng Nghĩa, Võ Hồng Nhung
Music Hazy Montagne Mystique (Chittakone Baccam)
Sound design Sandy Pinteus
Duration twenty minutes
Original format 35 mm full-frame, 4K pro res
Shot in Vietnam Produced in Canada
Year 2017
Support Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, LOJIQ, DanCenter
Screening Rencontres Internationales Regards Hybrides /Canada (November 10, 2017)
ORE est bleu, scintillant, fragile.
Cette vidéodanse, tournée à Saigon (Vietnam), suit 11 interprètes dans cette ville riche et chaotique. Ancré dans un langage chorégraphique et cinématographique épuré, Kim-Sanh Châu & Ray Lavers proposent leurs regards subjectifs sur cette ville à laquelle ils sont liés, sans pour autant la comprendre pleinement. Leur travail dialogue avec l'espace et met en lumière la lenteur. ORE est la seconde vidéodanse d'une trilogie tournée au Vietnam, faisant suite à Inner Smoke (2016), qui a reçu le prix de la meilleure direction 2017 au Festival Quartiers Danses / Cinémathèque Québécoise.
ORE is blue, gleaming, fragile and powerful. This screendance project, shot in Saigon (Vietnam), follows 11 dancers in this rich and chaotic city. Believing in a deep and visceral body language, Kim-Sanh Châu & Ray Lavers’s creation is intimate and assumes its own subjectivity. Their work is anchored within space, as well as rythm. ORE is their second screendance shot in Vietnam, following Inner Smoke, which was awarded Best Direction 2017 by Festival Quartiers Danses - Cinémathèque Québécoise (Canada).
Choreography Kim-Sanh Châu
Interpretation Ariane Dessaulles, Melina Stinson (Canada), Võ Hồng Nhung (Vietnam)
Dramaturgy Daina Ashbee
Music Chittakone Baccam, Michel F. Côté
Video Guillaume Vallée
Lighting Jon Cleveland
Residencies OFFTA, Espace Marie Chouinard, La Serre - arts vivants, Dancenter, Danse Danse
Shows Tangente (Canada) Feb 8-9-10-11, 2018, Krossing-Over (Vietnam) April 19-21, 2018, Dancebox (Malaysia) May 1, 2018, SIDance / HOTPOT (Korea) Oct 13 2018, Sejong International Festival (Korea) Oct 16 2018, Arsenal (Canada) Dec 11, 2018, Rencontres Internationales Regards Hybrides (Canada) Oct 23, 2019.
Financial support Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec
Year 2018
À mi-chemin entre danse et installation, Kaleidoscope est un voyage sensoriel coloré où les corps dévoilent rêves enfouis et subconscient. Naviguant entre des positions concises, les danseuses Ariane Dessaulles et Melina Stinson, dessinent une douce corporéité ouvrant à des imaginaires oniriques lointains. Le public glisse dans un univers brumeux et surréel à l’aide de lunettes kaleidoscopes. Celles-ci démultiplient l’image et altèrent les couleurs. Avec cette création, Kim-Sanh Châu matérialise et ouvre son univers synesthésique entre couleur, musique et émotion. Kaleidoscope est rose pâle, pourpre, avec des touches bleues persan et dorées. Les corps se multiplient à l’infini. Puis disparaissent.
Leaning between dance and installation, Kaleidoscope is a colorful sensorial journey where bodies unravel subconscious and fleeting dreams. Floating through concise positions and with gentle corporeity, the dancers Ariane Dessaulles and Melina Stinson, open our oneiric imaginations. The audience slides into this surreal and hazy world wearing kaleidoscope glasses. Their special lenses multiply the image and alter colours. With this new creation, Kim-Sanh Châu realizes and invites us into her synesthetic realm of colors, music and emotions. Kaleidoscope is pale pink and violet, touched with Persian blue and gold. Bodies duplicate infinitely. Then disappear.
Co-creation Kim-Sanh Châu Ray Lavers
Music (trailer) Hazy Montagne Mystique (Chittakone Baccam)
Duration eleven minutes
Original format 35 mm full-frame, 4K pro res
Shot in Vietnam Produced in Canada
Award Best Direction 2017. Festival Quartiers Danses /Canada
Screening Krossing-Over Festival /Vietnam (April 16,2017), Festival Quartiers Danses /Canada (September 9-11-13, 2017), Festival VideoMovimiento /Colombia (September 17, 2017), TanzFilmFestival BERLIN /Germany) (October 6, 2017), Espressioni /Italy (October 7, 2017), Rencontres Internationales Regards Hybrides /Canada (November 11, 2017)
Year 2016
À Hoa Binh, région rurale et montagneuse du nord du Vietnam, de larges étendues de fumée blanche peuvent être observées chaque jour. Ces feux sont allumés par les habitants le long des routes, dans les champs et arrière-cours de maison; tous les jours à partir de 17 heures. Que ce soit dans le but de nettoyer, purifier ou honorer les morts, ce phénomène est omniprésent et devient rapidement obsessionnel. Inner Smoke est une exploration physique – embodiement – de ces processus de feux et fumées, qui témoignent notamment du culte des ancêtres. Ce film met en lumière l’espace laissé au renouveau après la disparition, tout en questionnant ce qu’il reste du passé, ce qui ne se voit plus, comme ces cendres auxquelles on ne prête attention. Inner Smoke est aussi un journal pour nos deux collaborateurs, qui retrace leur passage au Vietnam. La caméra suit Kim-Sanh Châu (danse) et Ray Lavers (vidéo) dans leur processus de création. Les images s’imprègnent de leurs regards divergents à propos de ces terres si riches et mystérieuses à la fois.
In Hoa Binh, rural area in Northern Vietnam, large expanses of white smoke can be observed every day. Whether at roadsides, in fields, or even backyards, local light fires every night around 5 p.m. Whether fire is lit in the idea of cleaning, purifying or honouring the deceased, this omnipresent phenomenon becomes obsessive. Inner Smoke is a dance-embodiement of the fire and smoke process, following the Vietnamese cult of the dead culture. This film deals with the space left for renewal after one’s disappearance, while questioning what remains from the past, what we can not see, like ashes that we are no longer paying attention to. Inner Smoke is also an intimate diary of the two protagonists’ journey in Vietnam. It follows Kim-Sanh Châu (choreographer/dancer) and Ray Lavers (filmmaker) into their creation process. Images depict their different perspectives regarding creation and experience in a foreign land.
