Piece of 6 performers
Duration: 55min
Premiere - 19 March 2024 at The Arts Centre - Edge Hill University - Ormskirk
“This is a performance which pushes at the boundaries of what dance can be (...)” ★★★★★ To Do List on Re:birth
Duration: 55min
Premiere - 19 March 2024 at The Arts Centre - Edge Hill University - Ormskirk
“This is a performance which pushes at the boundaries of what dance can be (...)” ★★★★★ To Do List on Re:birth
Concept: Dam Van Huynh
Choreography: Dam Van Huynh in collaboration with the performers
Composer: Ian Tang
Lighting Design: Patricia Roldán Polo
Costume Design: Emma Lyth
Sound: Michael Picknett
Rehearsal Director: Tommaso Petrolo
Performers: Paul Davies, Laura Kenyon, Wai Shan Vivian Luk, Divija Melally, Ieva Navickaite, Tommaso Petrolo
Created with input from: Marc Krause, King San Lo, Elaine Mitchener, Giacomo Pini, Marley Seville, MORUA, Dance Bridges Festival
Photography: redManhattan Photography
Texts by: Jenny Holzer, Jayne Cortez, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Mitsuye Yamada, Walt Whitman, Neil Gaiman, Bell Hooks, Thich Nhat Hanh, Audre Lorde, Alan Moore, United States Declaration of Independence
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change.
I am changing the things I cannot accept.” Angela Davis
Exquisite Noise honours the art of assembly. Choreographer Dam Van Huynh explores alternative methods of dissent, drawing on noise to embody defiance and celebrating the power of coming together.
Sounds of protest against inequalities take centre stage, creating a unique sensory experience through music, lights and movement. This is a dance between disruption and communion, an invitation to wake up our collective spirit in an act of solidarity and care.
Supported using public funding by Arts Council England
With further support from The Arts Centre at Edge Hill University, Pavilion Dance South West and Centre 151
Upcoming performances: Exquisite Noise
Previous dates:
20 February 2024 – Pavilion Dance South West - Bournemouth (Preview)
19 March 2024, 7.30pm - The Arts Centre, Edge Hill University - Ormskirk (Premiere)
Paul trained at The Northern School of Contemporary Dance, graduating with a First Class Degree in 2015. He went on to complete an apprenticeship with Motionhouse Dance Theatre, touring over ...
Martyna Poznańska is a cross-disciplinary artist who works with different media across disciplines, building connections between the intangible medium of sound and solid matter. This includes the practice of listening ...
Concept: Dam Van Huynh
Choreography: Dam Van Huynh in collaboration with Tommaso Petrolo
Performance: Tommaso Petrolo
Composer: Ian Tang
Lighting Design: Patricia Roldán Polo
Costume Design: Emma Lyth
Sound Engineer: Michael Picknett
Photography: Rocio Chacon
Texts by Walt Whitman, Audre Lorde, Pussy Riot, Alok Vaid-Menon (ALOK), Henry David Thoreau
In Realness is an artistic collage of sounds, collected texts, and movement references which stand in resistance of the status quo. Dam Van Huynh, as a queer Vietnamese artist, raises his voice and opposes stereotypes of Asians as being quiet and internal. He embodies through his piece a dissent from prejudices and inequality and its effects on our society.
Desmond Tutu said 'if you are neutral in the face of injustice, you are on the side of the oppressor'. Remembering such words lifts us out of silence and stirs up collective activism and collective care. Individual voices, brought together, create a body of resistance against oppressive norms and behaviours, amplifying our resilience, building unity and communicative power.
Supported by Centre 151
"An exploration of resistance, queer sexuality, and gender politics performed with impressive range and energy by Tommaso Petrolo" Seeing Dance
"a highly captivating, emotional and explicit work that challenges how we situate ourselves within(out) our society." Dance Art Journal
“The voice is a physical organ that sits somewhere between mind and body; Van Huynh choreographs for both with such force that Petrolo’s performance is exhausting and uplifting at the same time (…)” Writing about dance
"As a queer Vietnamese artist, I began the work commenting on gender politics and sexuality but as the work developed it became a larger symbol for inequality experienced by many other groups. I reflected further upon this with the understanding that gathering voices through the piece is to acknowledge the importance of strength in unity when faced with inequality." Interview with Dam Van Huynh in Run Riot
Upcoming performances: In Realness
Previous dates:
13-14 May 2022 – Rich Mix - London
12 March 2023 - UfaFabrik - Berlin, Germany
20 May 2023 – Nonsuch Studios - Nottingham
Production pictures by Holly Revell
Over the past 12 years Tommaso has built an extensive career as a performer and more recently as a maker. Based in the UK since 2016 he has collaborated as ...
Wai Shan Vivian Luk trained in Musical Theatre in 2009-2010. She graduated from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2015 majoring in contemporary dance. She completed her master’s ...
Duration: 50min
Premiered on 23 April 2022 at The House - University of Plymouth
“a swirling portrayal of the exhaustion of exile.” The Guardian
Concept and Choreography: Dam Van Huynh
Sound environment composition: Martyna Poznańska
Vocal improvisations: Elaine Mitchener
Costume Design: Emma Lyth
Lighting Design: Patricia Roldán Polo
Sound Engineer: Michael Picknett
Performers: Paul Davies, Laura Kenyon, Marc Krause, Wai Shan Vivian Luk, Elaine Mitchener, Tommaso Petrolo, Marley Seville
Original cast: Marta Masiero, Ieva Navickaite
Texts by Thich Nhat Hanh, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Mitsuye Yamada, Audre Lorde, Ocean Vuong
Photography: Foteini Christophilopoulou / Brett Lockwood
“Let me begin again.” Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Dam Van Huynh draws upon the words of writers, poets, activists as an awakening to his displaced experience as a child refugee from the Vietnam war. Moving from a state of disorientation into a state of consciousness, Re:birth retraces a personal experience of rediscovery.
The performance unravels a recollection of visual impressions and sensations, a memory book whose pictures and stories long forgotten begin to resurface, a distortion between memories and dreams. Movement responds to a field of light, sound and voice to illude the senses.
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Audre Lorde, A Burst of Light
Supported using public funding by Arts Council England
With further support from University of Plymouth and Centre 151
★★★★★ To Do List
“This is a performance which pushes at the boundaries of what dance can be, and there is a thrilling sense of danger in the way the cast (…) allow their bodies to twist and turn with abandon.”
★★★ Guardian
"We’re seeing the confusion and exhaustion of exile, voices drowned out, the disquiet of finding yourself, unwanted, in a new land."
Interviews
London Live
Dam Van Huynh is interviewed on TV by London Live ahead of the London Premiere of Re:birth at The Place.
Dance Art Journal
“Everything about my existence – the fact that I’m speaking through the form of dance and making artwork – is all political because I come from a displacement due to political implications.”
Run Riot
“I think the most important lesson I have learnt through the years is the notion of narrative and re-narrative. To be able to find and narrate my own path and story rather than let others define me, has helped me to liberate my creative thinking, giving me a wider scope of approaches towards making work that interests me (…)”
Upcoming performances: Re:birth
Previous dates:
20 April 2022 – The Old Fire Station – Oxford
23 April 2022 - The House - University of Plymouth
25 April 2022 – Exeter Phoenix
27 April 2022 – Colchester Arts Centre
30 November 2022 - Lancaster Arts
23 March 2023 - The Arts Centre, Edge Hill Universisty
10-11 November 2023 - 3:3 Våningen - Gothenburg, Sweden
Part of Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art
14 November 2023 - The Place, London
Winner of the Asian Arts Award for Best Direction 2018
★★★★ The Observer
"We, and the dancers are forcefully confronted with our frailty, but also, ultimately, with our capacity for regeneration. Life goes on."
Feature in the Guardian
"throughout Dep, I am on the edge of my seat."
Production pictures by Brett Lockwood
Duration: 18min
Premiere - 8 December 2023 at Lyric Theatre, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
Concept and Choreography: Dam Van Huynh
Rehearsal Director: Leila McMillan
Performers: Academy Dance Ensemble
Composer: Ian Tang
Set & Costume Designer: Kitty Kong Hiu-kwan
Lighting Designer: Paul Wong Tsz-chung
Sound Designer: Kyle Li Ka-shing
Video Designer: Dan Fong
Production Manager: Priscilla Tsang Pik-kwan
Photography: Tony Luk
Commissioned and produced by the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, School of Dance
Life in this world loops between what could be sensed as reality and what could be fictitious. Synthetic is a transcendental journey taking us through an alternate otherworldly space, venturing into a vividly hyper artificial world. Responding to the overload of the senses and hallucinatory visions induced by this fabricated environment, the movement turns into a ritual, eventually plunging us in a deep state of meditation.
Duration: 55min
Premiered on 2 June 2017 at Rich Mix - London
"Pina Bausch meets Bill Viola, then along comes Dam Van Huynh. An intense, beautiful and profound work once seen never forgotten."
- Eighteen London
Choreography: Dam Van Huynh
Music: Martyna Poznańska
Lighting: Antony Hateley
Photography: Pari Naderi, Brendan Bell, Barry Lewis
Performed by: Paul Davies, Marc Krause, Marta Masiero, Ieva Navickaite, Tommaso Petrolo, Marley Seville
“The living need light and the dead need music” - Vietnamese proverb
Đẹp is the Vietnamese word for beautiful. With his latest dance work, the UK based choreographer Dam Van Huynh explores influences from his South East Asian heritage. In Vietnamese culture, death is also a form of rebirth. When a person dies, the family and community enact rituals that will enable the deceased to pass into another realm, a higher state of being.
The work sees a shift in Van Huynh's movement language as it delves ever deeper into the nature of the human condition. The dancers in ĐẸP are nude for a purpose. Fragile and vulnerable, their nudity literally strips them bare. Disrobed, free of distraction, their movement begins at the point where the mind transcends the physical self. Amplified and tracked by Martyna Poznanska's numinous score, the movement in ĐẸP invites the audience to let go, reaching ever closer to the feeling of being alive.
Supported using public funding by Arts Council England
With further support by Centre 151, Citymoves Dance Agency, Canterbury Christ Church University
Winner of the Asian Arts Award for Best Direction 2018
★★★★ The Observer
"We, and the dancers are forcefully confronted with our frailty, but also, ultimately, with our capacity for regeneration. Life goes on."
★★★★ Seeing Dance
"A powerful work with a terrible beauty all of its own."
★★★★ Broadway Baby
"A raw and visceral production that transcends the need for verbal communication, Dep looks behind closed doors and stands defiantly in its appreciation of human fragility."
Feature in the Guardian
"throughout Dep, I am on the edge of my seat."
Upcoming Performances: ĐẸP
Previous dates:
2 & 3 June 2017 – Premiere, Rich Mix London
9 November 2017 – Homotopia Festival, Liverpool
25 & 26 November 2017 – Centro Cultural Los Talleres, Mexico City
7-9 December 2017 – Teatro Ocampo, Cuernavaca – Mexico
3 February 2018 – Canterbury Chirst Church University
3-18 August 2018 – ZOO Southside, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
24-25 Aug 2018 – 3:e Våningen, Gothenburg Dance & Theatre Festival - Sweden
11-12 October 2018 - The Lemon Tree, DanceLive Festival, Aberdeen - Scotland
28 February 2019 - Axis Arts Centre, Crewe
6 March 2019 - Lancaster Arts, Lancaster
13 March 2019 - Colchester Arts Centre, Colchester
14 March 2019 - Exeter Phoenix, Exeter
21 March 2019 - The Arts Centre, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk
3-4 May 2019 - Festival del Silenzio, Milan - Italy