Against the recent backdrop of a greatly altered commercial and consumer culture, Report on Body explored the often contradictory roles of Chinese women operating in the shadows of a male-dominated society and how their relationship to their bodies in the new capitalist China continues to be challenged and changed. Using dance, video, and performance gestures in a study of desire and the corresponding attachment of values—to sex, money, dreams, aspiration—the body becomes both the metaphor and the living embodiment of these commonalities.

Report on Body was presented as part of the Walker-organized exhibition How Latitudes Become Forms, which encompassed not only a visual and performative exhibition of art forms, but attempted to address in a holistic fashion the role of artists and their work in increasingly untenable global realities. In addition to their performances, Living Dance Studio held post performance talks with their audiences covering these topics, and also a panel discussion featuring theater artists and activists Rhodessa Jones and Juliana Pegues in which they discussed women’s issues through the lens of contemporary performance. . . .

Against the recent backdrop of a greatly altered commercial and consumer culture, Report on Body explored the often contradictory roles of Chinese women operating in the shadows of a male-dominated society and how their relationship to their bodies in the new capitalist China continues to be challenged and changed. Using dance, video, and performance gestures in a study of desire and the corresponding attachment of values—to sex, money, dreams, aspiration—the body becomes both the metaphor and the living embodiment of these commonalities.

Report on Body was presented as part of the Walker-organized exhibition How Latitudes Become Forms, which encompassed not only a visual and performative exhibition of art forms, but attempted to address in a holistic fashion the role of artists and their work in increasingly untenable global realities. In addition to their performances, Living Dance Studio held post performance talks with their audiences covering these topics, and also a panel discussion featuring theater artists and activists Rhodessa Jones and Juliana Pegues in which they discussed women’s issues through the lens of contemporary performance. Their residency, conducted in collaboration with Minneapolis’ Red Eye Theater, offered a rare, unfettered glimpse into the intersection of art, politics, and society that contemporary Chinese artists are currently navigating.

"We use “body” as a key word, to observe the value driven to the body in our present lives and situation. The body in this work constitutes a channel through which we can concretely, and in detail, experience the deepest transformations concerning such things as the value we attach to money, our dreams, fashion, sex, our aspirations. “Body” has become a metaphor for our common customs and desires."—Wen Hui and Wu Wenguang

Wu Wenguang (Chinese, b. 1956) and Wen Hui (Chinese, b. 1960)
Experimental choreographer Wen Hui and pioneer filmmaker Wu Wenguang formed Living Dance Studio in Beijing in 1994. They create multimedia works that document intimate acts of life in modern China, with a particular focus on the everyday activities of women: folding clothes, washing hair, making...

Wu Wenguang (Chinese, b. 1956) and Wen Hui (Chinese, b. 1960)
Experimental choreographer Wen Hui and pioneer filmmaker Wu Wenguang formed Living Dance Studio in Beijing in 1994. They create multimedia works that document intimate acts of life in modern China, with a particular focus on the everyday activities of women: folding clothes, washing hair, making love, giving birth. Wen began studying traditional Chinese dance in 1974, eventually studying modern technique and choreography with the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy, the Limon Institute, and the Trisha Brown Dance Company. Wu’s films include the highly influential Bumming in Beijing (1990) and Jiang Hu (1999), among others.

Living Dance Studio is China’s first independent contemporary dance-theater company, operating entirely outside of the country’s state-sponsored arts and entertainment systems. Affiliated artists range from freelance performers to members of state-owned troupes who work with the company in order to pursue ideas in an environment that nurtures free expression and artistic experimentation.