Photo: Ashkan Kalali
Things of Silence
'Things of Silence' is a solo performance with a composer playing live sound. In this performance, I explore movement that reveals those unnoticed, yet dormant qualities of the space come alive, using bodily movement, projected images, and sounds (voice and objects).
I examine the concept of silence. Silence does not exist in reality. Sound is everywhere; so is movement. When heard, they enter our consciousness as noise. Silence and noise are merely sounds devoid of the sounds we expect to hear. I want to let the audience hear the unexpected beyond what they presume to be silence or noise. I want them to reexamine their understanding of familiar ‘things’ by being attentive to their perception of those physical qualities. I intend to create the space where their habitual perception is suspended, where discomfort becomes wonder.
Regarding rice paper, I foreground its East Asian associations, and the sound and weight of the rice paper. A black-and-white design will reference Chinese calligraphy. To Westerners, rice paper may evoke death, yearning, exotic antiquity, orientalism, etc. I will highlight the visual and sound of rice paper using bodily movement, while letting the audience imagine their own stories through those associate cultural connotations.
As a choreographic method, I have been using objects in order to discourage my human intention for fixed forms. In a similar manner, in Things of Silence, I improvise my movements to the sounds and movements made by the paper, while I explore the innate physicality of the paper.
Photo: Ashkan Kalali
Project Created by: Soeine Bac
Key Artistic Collaborators:
Music by Edgardo Moreno
Performance type: This work is built for theatre
How do you define this work: Dance theatre, multidisciplinary, experimental
Length of performance: 60 minutes.
Audience type: General Audience
General Technical Requirements:
Not shown in the submitted video of the performance, the performance will start with layers of rice paper, hung from the ceiling, gently moving by a fan or an air conditioner. The layers of rice paper will cover the entire length between the right and the left, from mid-stage to backstage. Accordingly, I will need a ceiling grid from which to hang the rice paper. The width of the rice paper would be anywhere between 50 centimetres and 1 meter, depending on the availability of rice paper and the width of the stage. They will overlap in a zig-zag manner.
Then, lights in the backstage will lit those layers of rice paper, creating silhouettes of rice paper moving in layers, creating a simulacrum of ocean water. As the solo performer enters from a side, holding one long layer of rice paper, a light (hidden behind the curtain) from the opposite side of the stage slowly comes on.
As the performer reaches the other side, the lights in the backstage get turned off slowly.
As the performer finishes her act at the side of the stage lit by the light and moves to the centre of the l stage, the light at the side gets turn off and the spotlights from the ceiling are on.
Towards the end, the spotlights are off and the main light in the centre is on. At the end of the performance, there is a blackout.
In addition to the rice paper hanging from the ceiling, small microphones are hung from the ceiling in the centre line from a side to the other side in front of the rice paper. They will pick up the sound of the rice paper and the voice of the performer.
The composer on the stage, who will play live sound, will have a dedicated microphone.
General Technical Requirements: lights, amplification, microphones, a long stick (about 1.75 meters)
Required amount of time for tech set up: 2 hours
Number of Performers on tour (including choreographer): 2
Number of Support Staff on Tour: 1
Availabilities: 2025 Spring Season (Mar-Jun), 2025/26 Season, 2026/27 Season
Soeine Bac
For my performance work, I examine movement in relation to sound and space. Without movement, there is no sound. I focus on architectural characteristics of the space, which determines the sound created within it. I treat space as an organic instrument (metaphorically) to generate movement. I search for movement inherent but not yet expressed in the space. I find and compose that sound and movement, making it perceptible.
I am interested in objects that are essential in our daily lives. While they are deeply imbedded – and often indispensable – in our lives, their ordinariness and familiarity prevent us from paying attention to them, and they become invisible and silent, metaphorically and literally.
I pay particular attention to the sounds that traverse our daily lives. I try to tell their stories through my bodily movement, projected images, objects, and live sound. I explore these relationships between sound, movement, and space through a form of performance focusing on ambient or ordinary sound. I experiment with using movement to bring sounds out of their oblivion into consciousness.
Performance History & Upcoming Performances
Things of Silence: Rice Paper (solo performance)
6 Nov. 2022, STAND Festival, the Presentation House Theatre, (North Vancouver, Canada)
Project Details
Community Engagement
Walking in the Void (5 days, 3-4 hours each, and a presentation)
We will make an improvised performance following a certain set of rules.
The first 30 minutes will be a warm-up session focusing on fluidity, elasticity, and movement isolation. It will mainly consist of directed improvisation following some given instructions to create a ‘neutral’ body.
During the following hour, I will introduce the improvisation method that I have been practicing, which is based on the East Asian idea of Wu (nothingness for non-intentional action). The focus will be on how to compose space by using movement, rather than on composing movement within space. The participants will be advised to pay attention to the direction of their gaze in order engage with the space.
During the following 45 minutes, the participants, as a solo or a group, will create a 5 or 10 minute improvisation performance.
During the following 30 minutes, the participants will share their improvised performances.
During the final 15 minutes, the performance will perform collectively an improvised performance following an instruction I will give them.
Outreach Activies
Workshop: Sound of Listening (2 hours, $12 to attend (The fee can be reduced or waived for those who cannot afford it.)
The first 30 minutes will be a warm-up session focusing on the relationship between breathing, voice, and bodily movement. We will listen to the body, considering how it both affects and is affected by the space.
During the following hour, I will introduce the improvisation method that I have been practicing, incorporating sound art in my performance. The focus will be on how to listen to the space and the body, and how to return to our primordial voice prior to – or beyond – our linguistic voice. We will respond to what we hear by using sound, including voice, body, and objects.
During the last 30 minutes, the participants will make instant composition for improvised performance. We will have explored how to make performance based on our study of improvisation within the space during the previous hour.
* The movement will be mainly floor work, which will be intense and rigorous, requiring flexibility and strength. We will roll, fall, and swim on the floor. Everybody is welcome, but please be prepared for strenuous physical activity.