The Play
Performance | Interaction | Motion Capture | 3D
Choreographic Agency and the Politics of Digital Legibility
Mingjun Han Choreographer, Performer
John Luo Co-director, Creative Technologist, 3D Generalist
Lois H Co-director, Project Manager
Chienn Tai Music Composer, Orchestrator
Sofia Shen Prop Designer
An interactive dance performance where a live dancer controls a digital avatar through real-time motion capture. The performer is wearing a protable webcam and streamign everything she sees into the game engine in real time. Audience members influence the avatar’s transformation using game controllers, shaping the story in real time. Blending live movement, projection, and audience participation, the piece explores how personal identity shifts under social influence.
Rehearsal: Distributed Agency and the Controller-Body Loop
In this rehearsal, my movement is tracked while collaborators operate game controllers offstage. Every input, whether a button press or a joystick tilt, triggers a shift in the virtual camera or the avatar’s behavior. I design specific choreographic tasks to make these shifts visible on both my physical body and its digital double. This setup lets me test how external technical inputs redistribute agency and control within the performance system, turning the body into a site of negotiation between human intent and hardware intervention.
Performance: The Digital Double and the Politics of Recognition
This performance still highlights the tight coupling between my facial expressions and the avatar’s gestures, routed through a facial camera rig and full body capture. By mapping my expressions onto a digital double in real time, I explore the tension between identification and distance. I ask: What does it mean for a minoritized performer to be mediated through these systems. The performance becomes a study in how digital recognition both enables visibility and imposes a layer of alienation.
Invisible Cave
Choreography by Mingjun Han
When addressing the topic of "home," Mrs. Wang told me, "People like us have no home; I don't belong to any place. There's nothing to rely on." Her words deeply moved me. As a participant in "The Chooser" interview, I delved into understanding how politics and culture impact individuals and communities.
Over the past two years of ongoing interactions and conversations with Asian individuals from diverse backgrounds, I have learned about their personal experiences and stories. These insights have motivated me to examine themes of race and identity in this project. By engaging with them, I was able to visualize their intense sentiments and experiences. This project revealed the intricate challenges faced by Asian women in the realms of society, history, and politics. Additionally, it marked a pivotal moment in my personal growth and served as a turning point in developing a sense of community.
The choreography explores the nuanced feelings of displacement, navigating the complex terrain of identity, and the visceral struggle of existing as an Asian woman in our contemporary society. Embodying the struggle against ingrained cultural norms, gender bias and historical marginalization.
New York Chinese Cultural Center Presents HOME Project 2023
Placeless Place Visual/Set Design: Zi Ye, Mingxi Xu
Video Editing: Hugo Wu
Lighting Design: Mingjun Han
Inhabited by Reflections
Choreography by Mingjun Han
Performed by Mingjun Han, Equem Roël,
Ruby Stigers,Ella BakerSmith,
and Lola Votruba
Live Feed Videography by
Frenchie Cavallo Phelps
Media assistance provided by
Frenchie Cavallo Phelps
and Glenn Potter Takata
Lighting by Zixuan Yang
Costumes by Mingjun Han and Amy Page
In Inhabited by Reflections, I weave live performance with live-feed technology, bridging multiple spaces to forge connections across diverse dimensions of time and space. At its core, the work delves into the profound question: How do we truly perceive and understand ourselves? Through this choreographic exploration, I seek to unravel the enigma of self-viewing from varied perspectives, inviting audiences to embark on a reflective journey through the landscapes of identity, perception, and self-discovery.
Inhabited by Reflections 2022
Choreography by Mingjun Han
Performed by Equem Roël, Ruby Stigers, and Ella BakerSmith
Live Feed Videography by Frenchie Cavallo Phelps
Media assistance provided by Frenchie Cavallo Phelps and Glenn Potter Takata
Lighting by Alie Martin
Costumes by Mingjun Han and Amy Page
Live Feed Videography by Frenchie Cavallo Phelps
Media assistance provided by Frenchie Cavallo Phelps and Glenn Potter Takata
Lighting by Alie Martin
Costumes by Mingjun Han and Amy Page
A Relative Position
Perform by Mingjun Han
"A Relative Position" is an elegant and economical performance in which they are positioned on a tall latter, slowly unraveling a clay fetus wrapped in twine. It is a hauntingly powerful work in response to threats to women's rights to their own bodies and reproductive health.
-- Clifford Owens
Through this performance art work, I aim to explore and bring attention to the pressing issues surrounding women's reproductive rights. The process of drawing the clay fetus ever closer by cutting threads and tying knots symbolizes the complexity and challengesthat women go through in their struggle for control over their own bodies. "A Relative Position" aims to evoke intuitive and empathic responses, fostering a deeper understanding of the ongoing struggles and advocating for the protection and empowerment of women in matters concerning their reproductive choices.
The ladder a timeworn stairwell to ethereal realms
Creaks beneath the weight of secrets it overwhelms
A narrative unfolds
penned by unseen hands
As life cascades downward through ephemeral strand
With a measured stroke
she wields the blade of choice
A symphony in steel
where silence finds its voice
The rope recoils
a cosmic thread redefined
Boundaries redrawn
in the tapestry of the mind
03/27/2022