Fashion has long been linked with theatre and performance. From Coco Chanel to Hussein Chalayan, many of the greatest couturiers have leant their design expertise to the stage.
V&A-collected fashion designer Rui Xu, has created “Scarlet Infusion” – seven seductive and spellbinding costumes for The Tea Spell, directed by Zhao Liang. This Rashomon style dance theatre performance premieres in the UK on 13th August 2017 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Rui Xu and Zhao Liang will come together with Professor Christopher Bannerman, performance artist Madaleine Trigg and The Tea Spell actress Amy Grubb for a vibrant discussion exploring the boundaries and possibilities when the worlds of fashion and dance meet on the stage.
The panel will be moderated by Lang Xiao, Art Consultant and Art PR Specialist at ARTouch Consulting.
Zhao Liang
Zhao Liang, is an award-winning dancer, director and choreographer. He was the first Chinese winner of the Roman Award for modern dance, and has also won the National Cultural Award, and the Lotus Cup, the highest award in the Chinese dance community. In 2012, Zhao Liang founded Zhao Liang Art Studio to develop modern dance in China.
Rui Xu
Rui Xu is an acclaimed fashion designer and contemporary artist whose works bridge fashion, painting, music and performance. She was the director of the Fashion Department at China Central Academy of Fine Arts. She has held solo exhibitions at the Zaha Hadid Gallery, the Royal College of Art and the Saatchi Gallery. In 2017 her work XIANGGUI was permanently collected by the V&A Museum.
Madaleine Trigg
Madaleine Trigg is a Lecturer in Performance Arts at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She has performed at the RCA, ICA, the Roundhouse, the Place and the National Theatre Studios, and has created new works in artistic residencies in Belgium and Germany. Madaleine’s solo performance, Sutre, has been exhibited at Kinetica Art Fair (as a hologram), represented the UK in the Extreme Costume Exhibition (2011 Prague Quadrennial) and was long listed for the 2013 Aesthetica Art Prize.
Professor Christopher Bannerman
Professor Bannerman had an extensive career as a leading dancer, choreographer and arts education worker principally with the London Contemporary Dance Theatre. He has served as Chair of Dance UK, Arts Council England’s Dance Panel and Creative Partnerships London North; co-facilitator of Rural Retreats, a series of intensive seminars for leaders in the arts, and as a member of the Dance Forum of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) UK. He is currently Professor of Dance and Head of ResCen Research Centre at Middlesex University.
Amy Grubb
Amy Grubb trained at The Royal Ballet School and Central School of Ballet and was awarded the first Christopher Gable Dance Drama Award. She has performed with The Royal Ballet and Russia’s Mariinsky Ballet at The Royal Opera House, toured with the Northern Ballet, and danced professionally with the Hong Kong Ballet for five years. In recent years she has ventured into the world of modern dance performing for prominent Chinese choreographers.
This event is free and booking is essential.