Soldier M.I.A. is a collaborative dance performance that attempts to re-imagine a Chinese queer feminist future, through the story of the female soldier, Hua Mulan (花木兰).
According to the classic legend, Mulan is a young woman who disguises herself as a man, in order to join the army and go to battle in her father’s place. On the surface, the story seems to advocate woman empowerment and emancipation; however at its root, it actually instrumentalizes female representation and bodies for patriarchal and nationalist purposes.
Framed as a fictive search-and-rescue mission, Soldier M.I.A. plays with the idea that Mulan has somehow gone missing in action (M.I.A.). Four “experts” with diverse Chinese backgrounds – a dancer, a dramaturg, a sound artist and a costume artist – join forces to find Mulan, using a mix of literary references, video footage of Chinese opera and personal stories. Together with the help of the audience, they will try to reconstruct the story of Mulan through a queer and feminist lens. Their task is to bring forth a new Mulan-in-action (M.I.A.). What battle will Soldier M.I.A. join in today? Whose flag will she be flying… or burning?
There will be a short post-show discussion after each performance.
On Saturday, November 25 at 4pm, Ming Poon will also hold an artist talk as part of his research project S.O.A.R. Queen (Study of a Rice Queen), which is supported by Berliner Förderprogramm Künstlerische Forschung. The talk will last approximately 90 minutes and admission is free of charge.
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- Thurs, November 23, 2023 | 8pmMain Stage
- with 2 additional performances until Nov 25th
Artistic Direction and Choreography by Ming Poon | Dance and Performance by Lee Mun Wai | Dramaturgy and Performance by Dandan Liu | Sound Design and Performance by Sum-Sum Shen | Costume Design and Performance by Tin Wang | Costume Assistanance by Elin Laut | Set Design by Jennis Li | Lighting Design by Hanna Kritten Tangsoo | Video Design by Harshini J. Karunaratne | Graphic by Hung Kieu | Movement Coaching by Gizem Aksu | Technical Direction by Klaus Altenmüller | Video Documentation by Isabelle Schmitt | Photo Documentation by Olivia Kwok | Production Management Assistance by Nur Bildik | Production Management by MIFRUSH Production (Micaela Trigo, Urszula Heuwinkel)
Funded by Berlin’s Senate Department for Culture and Community | This work has been developed as part of S.O.A.R. Queen, an artistic research project commissioned by the Berliner Förderprogramm Künstlerische Forschung (2022-2023).