Artistic Statement
I firmly believe that the life of art and the art of life are one. Artistic practice and research are inseparable, as both are driven by inquiries into humanity and probing how we, interconnected with everyone and everything, shape the world with its gifts and traumas from history.
Educational Background
PhD Candidate, University of Melbourne
MFA (Dance), Tisch School of the Arts, New York University
MA (Dance Education), Steinhardt, New York University
BFA (Dance), Victorian College of the Arts
BA (Philosophy), Fudan University
Practitioner Qualifications
Certified Movement
Analyst(CMA)
Registered Somatic Movement Educator(RSME/T)
GYROTONIC®️ & GYROKINESIS®️ Pre-trainer
Franklin Method Educator
RYT-500 (Yoga Alliance)
Email
weichencui19@gmail.com
Instagram
weichen_cui
RedNote
金刚未尘WeichenMay You Live Long and Happy
Choreography and dance by:
Weichen Cui 崔未尘 and Chiemi Ip
Music by:
Niccolò Paganini, Franz Schubert, Antonio Vivaldi, and Max Richter
Fertile Ground
June, 2022
Green Space, Long Island City, New YorkPreviously, Chiemi Ip invited me to collaborate on two duets. The first, Solitary and Recovery, featured a juxtaposition of imagery: in the stage projection, we danced playfully on a New York rooftop to a DJ version of 一剪梅 (Yi Jian Mei) (muted in the video), chasing and teasing one another. Meanwhile, on stage, Chiemi, dressed in white, performed a contemplative dance to meditative music. The second duet, Can We Be Friends, composed by musician Mal Stein, told the story of our encounter in New York—a meeting of a southern Hong Kong girl and a northern mainland Chinese girl.
This piece, May You Live Long and Happy, is both a continuation of and a response to Chiemi’s earlier works, as well as a farewell gift to her. Privately, we named it “The Doggie Piece” because its inspiration came from a short film, Dog Duet (1975), by William Wegman, shared by our Professor Wendy Perron during a seminar. I was deeply captivated by the seemingly random yet oddly synchronized head movements of the two Weimaraners sitting side by side in the film. Together with Chiemi, I explored and extended this idea of connection—at once accidental and predestined—in the choreography.
Chiemi曾邀请我做过两个duet，一个叫做《Solitary and Recovery》，舞台上的投影中我们在纽约公寓天台上（跟着DJ版一剪梅，影片中被消音）一起扭动，追逐嬉闹，而舞台上她着一袭白衣随着冥想音乐doing some contemplative dance；一个叫做《Can we be Friends》，由音乐家Mal Stein作曲，讲述我们，一个南方香港女孩和一个北方大陆姑娘在纽约相遇的故事。
《祝你长命百岁/May You Live Long and Happy》是我对Chiemi作品的回应和延续，也是临别前送给她的礼物。私下里，我们称这个作品为“The Doggie Piece”，因为创作的冲动来源于我们的Professor Wendy Perron在Seminar时分享过的William Wegman于1975年创作的短片《Dog Duet》。我对影片中两只并排坐着的魏玛犬在时空中任意而偶合的头部摆动深深着迷，也在这个舞蹈作品中与Chiemi一起探索和延展了这种既似随机又仿佛命定的连接与羁绊。