These photos are taken from live and interactive research for What Happened In Shanghai at Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, August 2016. Images by Grace He - ins@ziaciaociao What Happened In Shanghai is a contemporary dance and multi-disciplinary work in development exploring concepts of family and cultural identity. My Chinese family’s roots are in Shanghai where my grandmother, Yuen Kun Chi studied the piano at the Shanghai Conservatorium during the Japanese occupation. Her best friend Chiubik perished in the turmoil and her dying wish was for my grandmother to replace her as wife and mother. My perception of my grandmother is framed by having known her only as an old austere woman whose language I couldn’t speak. Would I have a different opinion of my grandmother if I had been able to know her in her youth and better understand her life’s context? What was the essence of the moment when she made this momentous decision that led to the accident of my existence? Australian and Shanghai dancers connect in the present by comparing differences between their relationships to their grandmother' pasts. In the process they also connect with the audience in the immediate present.   Victoria Chiu - Choreographer Kristina Chan - Dancer Gabrielle Nankivell – Dancer Lui Ya Nan - Dancer Yi Ling Xi – Dancer Mindy Meng Wang - Composer/ Guzheng Ma Haiping - Electronic musician Guo JinXin - Video Artist/set designer
       
     
Projects / WHAT HAPPENED IN SHANGHAI
       
     
Projects / FIRE MONKEY
Candy and Vic
       
     
Projects / KISCH MY ASS
Contemporary Dance inspired by the conception of Dunhuang Dance When I visited the Mogao Caves Dunhuang I was struck by the diverse subject matter and detail in the 100s of caves, the colours and lonliness in the desert and the feeling that the landscape had hosted many a traveller/pilgrim for 1000s of years. Later I discovered that Dunhuang Dance was created in the 1980s by a conscious decision to develop a dance technique from the paintings on the walls of the Mogao Caves. For this project, named Grotto , I am looking at artwork that exists in the City of Melbourne, on walls or on the streets. The street art of Melbourne will be the influence for contemporary movement phrases and structures.   Credits for first research: Victoria Chiu- Dancer Mindy Meng Wang – Musician David Shea – Musician Eddie Postma- Cinematographer/Editor Paul Ransom- Director Ms Jill Morgan AM,  CEO Multicultural  Arts Victoria and staff Mr Qi Weiquan,  Director of International Cooperation and Exchange Division of the North West University of Nationalities and staff Supported by University of Nationalities Lanzhou and Multicultural Arts Victoria and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria
       
     
Projects / GROTTO
Sold out critically acclaimed season at Malthouse Tower Theatre for Dance Massive 2015. Toured to China Shanghai International Arts Festival RAW!Land October 2015. Toured to Bendigo Confucius Institute December 2015.   Choreographed & Performed by Victoria Chiu in collaboration with Kristina Chan Performed in Shanghai with Hsin Ju Chiu Composed and Performed - Mindy Meng Wang Electronic Music - Ma Haiping Lighting Designer - Bosco Shaw Lighting Realisation - Adam Hardy Paper Artist - Benja Harney Costume Design - Harriet Oxley Assistant Director - Roland Cox Writer - Lian Low Dramaturge - Jana Perkovic & Felix Ching Ching Ho   DO YOU SPEAK CHINESE? Artfully exploring the connection between physicality, language and race, the performance plays with the many ways our bodies speak for us and combines the body’s translation of foreign semiotics, sights and sounds to create a poetic, moving, sculptural, drea mscape of what it’s like for the body and mind to be on a journey and discovery of dual identities. I am an Australian artist based in Melbourne and my father was a Chinese immigrant to Australia in 1965. I am proud of my Chinese heritage. However, I do not speak a Chinese language and the closest thing I have to a Chinese cultural ritual is the odd Chine se dinner in Melbourne’s Chinat own. Nonetheless, people often see me as Chinese. Growing up in Australia with Chinese ancestry I have felt the challenge of not being able to adequately articulate the complexities of my heritage. The historical disconnections to my cultural identity have led me on a creative, artistic journey to discover my Chinese roots through the contemporary moving body.   SUPPORTED BY Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, Multicultural Arts Victoria, Melbourne Festival, China Shanghai International Arts Festival, Malthouse Theatre, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Confucius Institute, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Dance Massive and Playking Foundation Asian Performing Arts Travel Grant.
       
     
Projects / DO YOU SPEAK CHINESE?
Floored is a movement journey for two dancers, structured as a psychological study in three sections. Each section has its own choreographic language which, when in succession, define an evolution/unfolding of the theme. We can become dependent on things that pleasure or comfort us. They are products, substances or services that we appear to have need of to make our lives more comfortable; they differ for each person. In our daily lives society, media, family, friends, teachers and strangers lead us to comforts that can influence and dominate us. Choreographed and performed by Victoria Chiu in collaboration with Amelia McQueen Original Score by Roland Cox    Lighting Design by Ben Shaw Costume Design by Harriet Oxley      Rehearsal Director: Linda Sastradipradja Set construction Jim Stenson Choir: Andy Jones, Sam Sequeira, Siobhan O’Rourke,Annisa Liang, Alice Cotton, Jill Farrar, Matt Rodd,Echo Huang, Carol Dixon, Tom Williams and Roland Cox Produced by Dancehouse Supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria and Dancehouse Housemate   A Movement Artist's Response to Floored By Vivienne Rogis The performance of Floored by Victoria Chiu in collaboration with Amelia McQueen was an incredibly satisfying experience. Here is a show in which intelligent bodies make clear statements about complex phenomena through movement. There is no need for words, for excess explanation. Clearly articulated movement with set, costumes, music and lighting that make a strong visual & aural statement in their minimalism and functionality, draw the focus towards the bodies in the space. Throughout the performance Victoria and Amelia meticulously build a movement language that communicates from body to body. It sets the mind alive as your body recognises contexts and sensations and the clarity of the performance leaves space for this individual reflection. Within the movement there is time for questions, time for personal reflection, as you witness something that is strangely familiar yet entirely foreign. Floored begins with comfortable comforting movement fluid, gentle, we see two women. A rhythm is built up between them. We become comfortable with their relationship. Infinitesimally the movement changes over time, almost so you don`t notice, until you remember where they have come from. Where they began. The contrast seems impossible. Human & organic to inhuman and rigid, stuck in pattern of arbitrary importance. And then without warning the entire paradigm shifts. Without fanfare, with a small shift in movement a gaping hole in world of the dance is created. And we are left wondering… How does one move forward from this? How do we begin to re-form in society? How will this duet re-create their world? Is this exciting or very, very frightening? Floored is an intelligent exploration of habit and the habitual. An expertly crafted movement essay that seamlessly flows from one idea to the next through the obviously intelligent bodies of Amelia McQueen And Victoria Chiu. It is a testament to the strength and clarity of Victoria`s artistic vision and the abilities of the individual artists in the creative team that set, music, costume and lighting have all produced equally meticulous and intelligent responses which play a vital role in the whole without overpowering each other.  
       
     
Projects / FLOORED
The Ballad Of Herbie Cox 6 cities across Canada
       
     
Projects / THE BALLAD OF HERBIE COX
Pre Professional Year Sydney Dance Company 2016
       
     
Projects / WORKSHOPS - CLASSES
Do You Speak Chinese? Trailer of performances in Shanghai October 2015
       
     
Projects / VIDEOS