The Pulse Frequency Project
February 2021, about six weeks into my research for a new creation, The Pulse Frequency , which reimagines a shared altered state of consciousness in the performers and the audience through the sound, light and movement frequencies, I received the dreaded phone call from Taiwan informing of Dad's emergency hospitalisation from heart failure. It was at the height of the Covid travel restrictions due to the UK Coronavirus variant, but I managed to book the flights, the Covid tests required for travel and the passenger information form and was set to arrive in Taiwan within 4 days. Though Dad's conditions were critical, we'd hoped for his recovery and a long awaited family reunion (it had been 3 years since I last saw Dad). Dad died on the day I was due to fly to Taiwan. In the government funded central quarantine facility, I began the grieving process alone for 14 days. The funeral took place on the 2nd day of my release from quarantine. In Dad's cremation rites, I, as the eldest child, led the sending off ceremony, the bone picking ritual, and held the urn to the final resting place. I could only watch on phone screen when Dad passed away but I was with him when he turned from flesh to bones and ashes. Amazingly, it was the skull (pure white, fragile but almost intact) and partial hip bones among the ashes on the viewing plate after 2 hours in the cremation chamber.
Sourcing material from the healing and artistic dimensions of the Taiwanese cultural/religious ceremony, Jiao, a week-long community extravaganza of rituals, the project explores how experiential content can be shared in the performance context and how sound and movement frequencies from a specific culture/religion retain the immediacy and authenticity, even if in a different way.
Sourcing material from the healing and artistic dimensions of the Taiwanese cultural/religious ceremony, Jiao, a week-long community extravaganza of rituals, the project explores how experiential content can be shared in the performance context and how sound and movement frequencies from a specific culture/religion retain the immediacy and authenticity, even if in a different way.
Research -
Background -
Since 2011, my performances in galleries and theatres have sourced material from Butoh, Chinese dance and pop culture. My collaborative performances, Snakes (with Owen Ridley DeMonick, 2019) and Dream Dangerous (with Zadie Xa & Benito Mayor Vallejo, 2020) connected my past artistic and personal life in Taiwan with present experience in European choreographies and performance art. These projects informed a desire to research and develop The Pulse Frequency Project, combining my Taiwanese heritage and my cross cultural artistic experiences.
As a child, Jiao procession - a cosmic renewal ritual ceremony - represented fear and wonder. The smorgasbord of sensations provided by the scents, sounds, images, dance acts and the solemn gestures and speeches of the Taoist priests encapsulated the ‘ideas of danger and disorder that transcend the earthly community’.
Beginning with the sound frequencies of Jiao, from music instruments to firecrackers to prayer chants, and their psychosomatic effects, the project delves into the theme of death and rebirth by reenacting the dance and movement in the offering ritual, procession and arrival ceremony.
I was inspired by the medical use of brainwave-altering properties of sound and light frequencies in treatments for Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s diseases. Another source of inspiration is the correlation between colours and the body’s bio-electrical pathways in Chinese medicine. The sound, colour and movement from Jiao ceremony will be rendered in Hz frequencies, analysed, and then composed into sound score, lighting design and choreography. Scientific data on the effect of auditory and photic stimulation on states of consciousness will inform the duration and tempo of the sound, colour/light effects and movement.
The Pulse Frequency Project is a reflection of and response to this moment. It seeks to dissolve the boundary between ritual and performance by transforming the movements and sensations from Jiao, drawing from the notion of ritualism in the contemporary choreography and performance art context and creating meanings of its own that celebrate rebirth and renewal.
Since 2011, my performances in galleries and theatres have sourced material from Butoh, Chinese dance and pop culture. My collaborative performances, Snakes (with Owen Ridley DeMonick, 2019) and Dream Dangerous (with Zadie Xa & Benito Mayor Vallejo, 2020) connected my past artistic and personal life in Taiwan with present experience in European choreographies and performance art. These projects informed a desire to research and develop The Pulse Frequency Project, combining my Taiwanese heritage and my cross cultural artistic experiences.
As a child, Jiao procession - a cosmic renewal ritual ceremony - represented fear and wonder. The smorgasbord of sensations provided by the scents, sounds, images, dance acts and the solemn gestures and speeches of the Taoist priests encapsulated the ‘ideas of danger and disorder that transcend the earthly community’.
Beginning with the sound frequencies of Jiao, from music instruments to firecrackers to prayer chants, and their psychosomatic effects, the project delves into the theme of death and rebirth by reenacting the dance and movement in the offering ritual, procession and arrival ceremony.
I was inspired by the medical use of brainwave-altering properties of sound and light frequencies in treatments for Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s diseases. Another source of inspiration is the correlation between colours and the body’s bio-electrical pathways in Chinese medicine. The sound, colour and movement from Jiao ceremony will be rendered in Hz frequencies, analysed, and then composed into sound score, lighting design and choreography. Scientific data on the effect of auditory and photic stimulation on states of consciousness will inform the duration and tempo of the sound, colour/light effects and movement.
The Pulse Frequency Project is a reflection of and response to this moment. It seeks to dissolve the boundary between ritual and performance by transforming the movements and sensations from Jiao, drawing from the notion of ritualism in the contemporary choreography and performance art context and creating meanings of its own that celebrate rebirth and renewal.