Farewell: A Fantastical Contemplation on America’s Relationship with China
“The music alone is well worth it. Melodies are layered with live percussion, speech and bicycle wheels, punctuated by the sounds of the dancers.”
—Kaya P, Teen Tix Blog
“… recollections of playing form a powerful connection to a lost past, and composer Byron Au Yong incorporates them into the score to powerful effect.”
—Jeremy Barker, The Sunbreak
Farewell: A Fantastical Contemplation on America’s Relationship with China is a performance created as the second in a trilogy to stimulate discussions about a globalized, post-9/11 America. The work draws inspiration from the novel Beijing Coma (肉之土), by Ma Jian (馬建) and the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. Composer Byron Au Yong created live and pre-recorded music for this production choreographed by Donald Byrd and performed by Spectrum Dance Theater.
Audio Demo
Musical excerpts from Farewell: A Fantastical Contemplation on America’s Relationship with China
Creative Team
Donald Byrd, choreographer
Byron Au Yong, composer, music director, sound design
Jack Mehler, set and lighting design
Details
Duration: 80 minutes
Cast: 13 dancers, 3 musicians
Instrumentation
voices
er-hu (Chinese fiddle)
cello
percussion: bicycle wheels, cymbals, drums, gongs
piano
cassette tape player
soundtrack
Dancers
Kelly Ann Barton, Ty Alexander Cheng, Geneva Jenkins, Kylie Lewallen, Vincent Lopez, Amber Nicole Mayberry, Joel Myers, Tory Peil, Patrick Pulkrabek, Marissa Quimby, Mia Monteabaro, Meaghan Sanford, and Sarah Poppe
Musicians
Byron Au Yong, er-hu, voice, drums, piano
Paul Kikuchi, drums, bicycle wheels, cassettes
Tiffany Lin, cello, drums, bicycle wheels
Mike Au Yong, recorded voice
Ying Zhou, recorded voice
Performances
February 18 – 20, 2010
The Moore Theatre, Seattle WA
Commissioned and presented by Spectrum Dance Theatre in partnership with Seattle Theater Group, as part of Beyond Dance: Promoting Awareness and Mutual Understanding (PAMU)
保重 Farewell Exhibition
January 20 – March 6, 2010
Moments of leave-taking and the ramifications of migration with artists MalPina Chan, Diem Chau, Annie Han + Daniel Mihalyo: LEAD PENCIL STUDIO, Paul Kikuchi, Tiffany Lin, June Sekiguchi, and Ying Zhou; curated by Byron Au Yong for the Columbia City Gallery, Seattle WA
Press Previews
“Au Yong brings more than music to this new work, confronting his own questions of freedom and justice. ‘I have learned that history is full of mistakes and that the media thrives on reporting about injustice,” he says. “My question is, does journalism build a more ethical society?’”
—Roxanne Ray, International Examiner
“The sound—with its Chinese melodies, radio newscasts, Maoist propaganda and snippets of Beethoven—is all-enveloping.…
[Choreographer Donald] Byrd relishes having a score created from scratch. ‘The advantage of it is that everything is new. There’s more back-and-forth and give-and-take, rather than the dance trying to conform to what already exists. So the music adjusts just as the dance adjusts.’
.... Au Yong’s score is similarly multistranded, ranging from melodies of ravishing beauty on traditional Chinese instruments to sound collages akin to the Beatles’ ‘Revolution No. 9.’”
—Michael Upchurch, The Seattle Times
Press Quotes
“... hyper-frenetic sound score.”
—CityArts Magazine
“Byron Au Yong, delivers not just a score but a bedlam-filled sound collage.”
—Michael Upchurch, The Seattle Times
“The sound is a thick, almost impenetrable thicket, an onslaught you must cut your way through in order to pay the dancers any attention.”
—Marcie Sillman, ArtDish
“The instruments Au Yong incorporates include Chinese percussion—drums, symbols and gong; Chinese fiddle; cello; and a bicycle wheel whose spokes are plucked and strummed.”
—Leslie Holleran, Seattle Dances