Kim-Sanh Châu / MIDLAND

Tio’tia:ke / Mooniyang / Montréal

In a distant, fictional Vietnam, the echoes of pop music on cassette tape reverberate against the sounds of modern Vietnamese rap. Châu Kim-Sanh inhabits this space, metamorphosing through bodily states generated by the presence of coloured neon lights. Of this evening blue erupts a purpleness: “bầu trời màu tím xẩm” – an uncertain translation. Eyes closed, the neon haze returns her to the sensation of her ancestral land. Saigon, like many cities in South-East Asia, is flushed with these vivid lights. Here, embodied memory and the imaginary take a ride on a Honda Dream II motorcycle, across a humid sky whose wetness whips the face.

BLEU NEON is a solo performed in its entirety from the squat position – used as a cultural, political, and aesthetic symbol of Asian being. Audio recordings bespeckle the choreography, navigating between fantasized nostalgia, loss of language and sexual objectification – all three widely experienced by Asian diasporic populations. In Southeast Asia, rap culture is increasingly popular – giving a voice to a population marked by silence. Rap here is a prayer.

kimsanhchau.com

@kimsanh_

Residencies

Villa Saigon and Dancenter (Vietnam)
MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels), Maison de la culture Marie Uguay, CCOV

Financial support

Conseil des arts de Montreal, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Canada Council for the Arts, FTA