The art of dance combined with the science of mechanical engineering is set to dazzle Brisbane audiences when the Brisbane Powerhouse hosts the Australian premiere of Huang Yi & KUKA from Thursday 18th -Saturday 20 February 2016 as part of WTF16.
Internationally acclaimed choreographer and dancer Huang Yi brings his childhood dream of dancing with a robot to life in this innovative show that Yi describes as “beautifying the sorrow and sadness” of his childhood.
“I was born in a wealthy family. When I was 10, my parents went bankrupt. As a child who was constantly moving from one tiny room to another and seeing my parents go through suicide attempts, I grew up knowing that I had to be a perfect child,” says Yi.
“I detached all my emotion: passion, anger, and sadness, to be that perfect child; to be like a robot: obedient, friendly, outstanding, considerate, never rebellious, perhaps no personality. Performance became the best outlet for my compressed emotion and I wanted to find a way to dance with a robot.”
While researching advanced industrial robots, Yi found that KUKA stood out for stability and the fluid design. After approaching KUKA Taiwan in 2010, a sponsorship from Quanta Arts Foundation in Taiwan resulted in him having his very own robot.
After conceptualizing dance moves between himself and KUKA, writing a computer program and countless rehearsals, Huang brings his dance with KUKA to the stage with stunning precision and artistry. Huang Yi and KUKA are joined on stage by dancers Hu Chien and Lin Jou-Wen.
Named by Dance magazine as one of the “25 to Watch,” Huang Yi was immersed in the arts at a young age, spending much of his childhood in his parents’ studio watching them teach tango and learning to paint alongside his father. He is widely considered one of Asia’s most prolific choreographers.
Huang’s ground-breaking and award-winning work, Huang Yi & KUKA opened the 2013 Arts Electronica Festival (Austria), the internationally renowned unique platform for digital art and media culture.
Tickets and further information can be found here
A free Q&A will follow the performance on Friday February 19
———-
