A queer feminist anthropologist exploring the realities of culture, gender, and sexuality in contemporary Asia
Reviews of books, live theatre and dance shows.
I'm in two minds about this question. I'm the kind of lighthearted person who doesn't take things too personally, and, having experienced many different manifestations of racism on my travels around the world - from having "white" shouted at me in Uganda to having my skin-tone admired in Korea - I generally tend to believe [...]
A lone voice rings out in an ancient Taiwanese ritual chant, Greeting the Gods, as a businessman carries an oversized briefcase past a pool full of lotus blooms. A circle of white-clad Celebrants sit with backs poker-straight and whip bamboo sticks against the floor while a female Shaman dances herself into an ecstatic frenzy. She [...]
Together on the dance floor, the three dancers sway lithely, snaking around one another, curving and arching their spines, alternately wavering and burning intensely. Kestelman watches Kela – her own, younger self or a misremembered memory of herself? – dance with the two men as feelings are sparked and a relationship is kindled. Their fun, [...]
The late great Pina Bausch is a legend of contemporary dance. Her work is renowned for having changed the scope of what we consider ‘dance’, and is so individual it is almost a genre in its own right. So how does one review a Pina Bausch piece and do it justice? In fact, how does [...]
I first saw Missing on my last day at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, just a few days after the final performance of our own show, A Writer's Lot. It was the most expensive show I paid for throughout my time at the Fringe (I'd seen a lot of shows for free) but it was the [...]
London International Mime Festival: Fet a Mà's Cru Catalan circus duo Fet a Mà present Cru, a delightfully playful yet strikingly potent piece about everything and nothing at the same time, as part of the London International Mime Festival 2014. Pre-set on stage in the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room, Marta Torrents struts high-heeled back and [...]
This was my first ever review at The Place, one of London's major dance venues. I had, of course, been there before, but this was also my first experience of their annual Resolution! festival, which showcases three new works every night for a month, between mid-January and mid-February every year. It's a great place for [...]
On Wednesday this week I went to the launch of the London International Mime Festival. I was reviewing the later (and darker) of the two shows by Compagnie Non Nova that kicked off the famous festival. The festival itself was set up in 1977, and is the longest running event of its kind worldwide. Phia [...]
On the 9th December, after a glass or two of wine with colleagues, I hurried my way from work to RichMix, a venue I had never been to before. Although it's not a major venue for dance, it's got some interesting dance and theatre pieces there every so often, and seems to me a pretty [...]
BalletBoyz – The Talent demonstrate their unique group identity at Sadler's Wells In a double bill at Sadler’s Wells, BalletBoyz demonstrate a group amity and common identity unlike any other company of their size. Founded by Michael Nunn and William Trevitt in 2000, the group has seen significant success across the UK and internationally, particularly [...]
Zhēn de Gender 