Naishi Wang | Face to Face

December 15 & 16

Tim Ryan Black Box Theatre, MacEwan University (in Allard Hall)

“A poem about communication and the countless pathways taken by our bodies to express ourselves, Face to Face draws inspiration from body language to create a gentle yet profoundly intense duet.”  - Elsa Pépin, FTA - Festival TransAmériques

A simple hand, outstretched. Another hand, covering a face. What do they express? Fascinated by our new modes of virtual communication, Naishi Wang, a Toronto-based choreographer originally from China, drew inspiration from body language, emojis, and the rudiments of speech to create Face to Face. In this dense and captivating duet about the ambiguities of communication, the body becomes a key that opens endless windows. Using hand gestures, rhythmic play, or simple embraces, Wang and his collaborator Lukas Malkowski, both superb performers, speak through movements. Sometimes mirroring the other, sometimes doing the opposite, their fluid or syncopated gestures are X-rays revealing volatile and impregnable states of being. A hymn to imperfect transmission, Face to Face depicts the ramifications of our relations to the world, to the other, and invites the audience to decrypt its secrets.

Concept, Choreographed and Performed by: Naishi Wang 
Created and Performed with: Lukas Malkowski
Concept, Dramaturgy & Video designer: Ivy Wang
Assistant Video Designer: Henry Mak
Music and Sound designer: Wen Yang Ho 
Lighting Designer: Chris Malkowski 
Outside Eye: Ginelle Chagnon 
Costume Designer: Adam X
Associate Lighting Designer/Technical Director: Emerson Kafarowski
Management and Representation: Dance Umbrella of Ontario

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Co-Producers: Festival TransAmériques, Montreal and Citadel + Compagnie, Toronto Funders: Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for The Arts, & Festival TransAmériques