In the world premiere of SoftMachine: The Return by Choy Ka Fai, five artists from the original 2015 production of The SoftMachine reunite after a decade: Rianto (Indonesia), Surjit Nongmeikapam (India), Xiao Ke x Zihan (China), and Yuya Tsukahara* (Japan). This talk will be an informal yet insightful conversation among the four friends and collaborators, united by a shared commitment to shaping the contemporary dance landscape within their diverse contexts across Asia. It offers a rare opportunity to hear directly from these artists as they reflect on the evolution of their practices and share their thoughts on the future of contemporary dance in Asia over the next decade.

*Please note that Yuya Tsukahara will not be taking part in this talk.

This programme is part of da:ns focus – Connect Asia Now (CAN), a weekend that spotlights contemporary dance works by and in collaboration with Asian artists focusing on distinct voices and creative impulses from the region.

Be sure to catch the world premiere of SoftMachine: The Return by Choy Ka Fai, a performance and a research project that weaves together a decade of experiments in dance-making, through the critical lens of five Asian artists.