Choreographer departs from patterns of control
In her new work, Marissa Wong seeks to access memories in real time with the help of voices from her life
Vancouver choreographer Marissa Wong’s passion for ballet led her to study in New York and Austin at a very young age. Most importantly, she was accepted at the prestigious Alonzo King LINES Ballet in San Francisco in her late teens, which provided her with the space to question what she was doing as a dancer.
“Oftentimes within the system of ballet, you’re told what to do and you’re not given that opportunity,” Wong told the Straight by phone. “So that was a huge point in my career where I started to shift what my intentions were and what I was doing with my dancing. Also, my physical dancing has… dramatically shifted from that experience.”
Now 27, Wong plans to encapsulate many of her life experiences in a self-choreographed solo called Departure. It includes a soundscore set within the structure of improvisation.
Wong said that a pile of clothes will appear on stage, with different attire representing experiences. Departure explores through movement how her relationship to them changes over time.
“There are different people that have voiceovers that will be relating the different points of my life,” she added, “and allowing me to access memory in real time. So for me as an artist on-stage, I’m listening to and acknowledging all of the sensations that are happening.”
Recorded voices include those of her parents, grandmother, ex-lovers, childhood friends, and newer friends. It’s inspired by the 2015 bestselling book, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk.
“Ballet shows up in the piece because it’s inherently part of my history,” Wong explained. “As do many other aspects of who I am as a human, which incorporates me identifying as a female or me identifying as a Canadian Chinese person.”
She added that the title, Departure, does not necessarily mean that she’s abandoning these experiences. Rather, it refers to departing from the patterns of control that these experiences might have imposed on her.
Through this investigation, she wonders if it’s possible to create new patterns, which won’t necessarily be passed on in a maternal or ancestral way to the next generation.
“So if someone bullies me on a playground because of my ancestry or because of my heritage when I was a child, that will show up in the piece,” Wong revealed. “Not because it’s about that experience but because that is part of who I am. It is literally the fabric of my makeup and my being.”
Wong praised following dancers, choreographers, and educators for helping with her movement and the development of the piece over the past three years: Amber Funk Barton, Peter Bingham, Barbara Bourget, Davida Monk, Alvin Tolentino, Raina von Waldenburg, and Helen Walkley. She also credited sound designer Jamie Bradbury, lighting designer Jono Kim, costume designer Meagan Woods, dramaturg Chick Snipper, and rehearsal director Hayley Gawthrop for their contributions.
The Dance Centre will livestream TWObigsteps Collective’s Departure twice next Friday (May 28) and twice next Saturday (May 29).