ArtsCross London 2013 Leaving home: being elsewhere

A performance research project bringing together artists and academics from Beijing Dance Academy, Taipei University of the Arts and from UK universities and conservatoires to engage in intercultural dialogue and exchange in and through the performing arts.
The interrelationship between process and product is one that is open to debate, but ArtsCross positions the performance as a result of process and combines the investigations of creative artists who are active in the arts marketplace with the debates of academic observers for whom performance is a practical as well as an intellectual endeavour.
In London, the choreographers faced similar demands as those in other editions: to create work that is contained within a ten-minute performance allocation, to address the theme, to use up to six performers from the three geographical locations. The last stipulation is frequently the most demanding as it involves working with interpreters and with performers whose training in, and understanding of, performance may vary widely.
The task appeared daunting and yet choreographers reported that the experience was rich and stimulating, and this was also true of the academics. The project involved working together and this is a key feature of ArtsCross – the exchange between us not limited to the brief encounter of a performance or conference – we were deeply engaged in this dialogue and committed to communicating the concerns of our work as widely as possible.
The theme for ArtsCross London, Leaving home: being elsewhere allowed consideration and reflection on notions of translation and interpretation, including what we translate from and to. Arguably most processes of familiarisation begin with translation – relating new information and thoughts to points of reference in what we already know. A way of making the unfamiliar, 'familiar', a word with roots linked to family, and that brought us firmly into the orbit of the theme.
ArtsCross projects are designed to create a dynamic and catalytic space in which the creativity and rigour of the artists is matched by the spontaneity and rigour of the academic exchange - and the London edition reflected that aim.
Project Directors:
London Project team: Christopher Bannerman (Primary Investigator); Martin Welton (Co-Investigator)
Xu Rui; Zhang Ping; Zhao Tiechun; Ping Heng; Wang Yunyu
Choreographers:
Dam Van Huynh; Riccardo Buscarini; Vera Tussing; Guo Lei; Zeng Huanxin; Zhao Liang; Su Weichia; Tung Ifen; Ho Hsiaomei