What Happened in Shanghai

Asia TOPA: Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts returns this year with a stellar line-up of multi-disciplinary performances and shows, typifying the collective creativity and imagination of artists in the Asia-Pacific region. In What Happened in Shanghai, choreographer Victoria Chiu draws on her family’s Shanghai roots and creates a world for the audience where the line between life, death and new life blur.

Before the show begins, we are instructed to take off our shoes and place any bags on the table. The stage is sparse; the whitewashed brick walls of Abbotsford Convent’s North Magdalen Laundry impose a sense of austerity. It is at this point we are told that the dancers may or may not touch us during the performance. Then, the dancing quad emerge. Victoria shares her heartfelt story about her grandmother: living in Shanghai as World War II broke out; marrying her best friend’s husband; having another three children with him. Victoria then invites the audience to share personal recounts of their grandparents. After a moment of silence – and apprehension – anecdotes flow. All of this is translated in Mandarin by Mindy Meng Wang.

What Happened in Shanghai is a symphony of personal projections, the body and live music in the form of a Guzheng. The four dancers, Victoria, Alice Dixon, Janette Hoe and Isabelle Beauverd, are masters of the domain, using the space so gracefully and elegantly. Through their movement, they respond to the connection, and also, loss of connection, with their loved ones.

Intimate, almost meditative, and certainly contemplative, What Happened in Shanghai makes you think about your own family, and the qualities we inherit.

What Happened in Shanghai
North Magdalen Laundry, Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford, 3067
Asia TOPA
asiatopa.com.au/whats-on/2020/dance/what-happened-in-shanghai