ZOO!
ZOO! is a fun and feral illumination of memory, charade, and the unsaid in the Asian-American experience. A cacophony of “facedance”, voice, light, and systems of play, ZOO! is a recess fantasy woven from American nostalgia and diasporic dreams. ZOO! is a part of a research project first initiated in October 2022 at Art Cake (Brooklyn, NY), and performed in its entirety at Art Cake, Arts on Site, and Flushing Town Hall.
Performed: February 2023 at Arts on Site, New York, NY & March 2024 at Flushing Town Hall, Queens, NY.
Created by: Grace Yi-Li Tong in collaboration with the dancers
Performed by: Sabrina Canas (2024), Demetris Charalambous (2024), Rafael Cañals (2023), Sydney Shu-Yu Chow (2023),
Isabelle Dayton, Savannah Gaillard (2023), Tamara Leigh, Hiroka Mori Nagai, Daniel Ricardo Rocha (2024), and Grace Yi-Li Tong
Sound: Original Sound by Daniel Giebisch featuring “Egg Shell Crack” by SoundEffectsFactory, “Besima” by Mononome,
“Age of Bloom” by Zhou Xuan, “Cobra Wages Shuffle / Off! Schable w gurę!” by Matmos.
Video Footage by Tuanminh Albert Do
Photos by Rachel Ha-Eun Lee, Samantha Chapa, and t.filmm
Created with the support of MNE’s Emerging Choreographer Series, Flushing Town Hall Art Cake Dance Series, Arts on Site, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant Program, Mark Morris Dance Center SharedSpace, and other individual contributors.
“ZOO! is the quintessence of a concert dance playground. Reflecting upon family, play, and communication, the seven dancers perform ZOO! with an incredibly happy-go-lucky, energetic, and impulsive spirit.”
Miranda Stuck for The Dance Enthusiast, 2023
