Performance Curators Initiatives

Performance Curators Initiatives (PCI), together with Myra Beltran's Dance Forum, Contemporary Dance Network Manila, UP Diliman Office of the Chancellor, and the UP College of Music-Diliman, present 𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐔 𝐍𝐄́𝐎𝐍, this 𝟐𝟕 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑, 𝟕:𝟎𝟎 𝐩𝐦, at the 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐦 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝟑𝟔𝐄 𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞, 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐳𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬. The event is in participation with UPDC - University of the Philippines Dance Company and the Contemporary Dance Network Manila.

In BLEU NÉON, Montreal-based Vietnamese-French contemporary dance artist 𝐊𝐢𝐦-𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐚̂𝐮, explores her body memories of her homeland Saigon, Vietnam, imagined and reimagined, through a series of rituals based on lighting elements.

As she describes in her online teaser,

"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 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."

For this Philippine performance of BLEU NÉON, 𝐊𝐢𝐦-𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐚̂𝐮 will be joined by 𝐇𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐞 𝐌𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞, and 𝐋𝐨𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧.

Everyone is welcome to attend the performance and pay whatever they can.