PuSh alumnus Jaha Koo and CAMPO brings  The History of Korean Western Theater , the final act of his  Hamartia  Trilogy , to the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Center on Jan. 23 (with post-show talkback) and Jan. 24. Greek for “tragic error,”  Hamartia  explores imperialism through documentary theater – with this final piece focusing on the future.

“The motivation and inspiration started from the past, and I’m talking about the present, but the most important thing is the future,” Koo adds. The show’s predecessors –  Lolling and Rolling  and  Cuckoo  used the past to contemplate the present.

A 2008 Seoul celebration of 100 years of Korean theater sparked Koo’s curiosity about the roots of theater. Through archival research, he discovered that this timeline was created by a Japanese intellectual tracing Western theater’s roots in Korea. This three-culture overlap encouraged him to examine ideas of modernity.

“When I think about the autonomous modernization in the future, there should be a discussion of so many things: gender equality, human rights, political matters,” he adds. “In a way, we have to preserve our history, so we have to unfold in our way, we have to untie.”

Through his research, Koo discovered that the agricultural goddess  Bibisae  from Korean folklore had been transformed under patriarchal Confucianism into an insatiable monster. His character-based performance draws out intergenerational themes in a multimedia production, incorporating  Bibisae , the history of theater, his son (represented by a robot), and his grandmother.

“As a theater maker, I think of video and music as not just elements to support the performance,” he adds. “I treat them as performers: they have their own voices.”

Koo encourages audiences to consider the concepts behind his video projections; some reverse or mirror each other. Different forms of music, including rhythms and drumming from traditional Korean theater, also appear in the artist’s exploration of linear, non-linear, and layering narratives. The diversity of contemporary art forms inspires Koo to push theatrical boundaries.

“At this moment, I have to think about what is the next evolution of theater,” he says. “I believe that there’s new format, new theater, which we never imagined [as] ‘theater.’”

Finding a home

H abitat  by Bettina Szabo of Petrikor Danse will explore immigration, coming of age and self-acceptance at the Scotiabank Dance Center on Jan. 28 and Jan. 29 (both include post-show talkbacks). Drawing from somatic explorations, Szabo’s ‘duet,’ which includes contortions, is performed with Hermes – a paper sculpture resembling a hermit crab shell.

“The sculpture eats me, it becomes my shelter, it becomes my shield, it becomes something I fight with,” she says.

Inspired by a video of Montreal-based artist Jacinthe Derasp’s sculpture, Szabo sought a personal connection to its form, which she found by observing hermit crab movements in Cuba. Using abaca paper, the two artists created a fabric-like material allowing Szabo to stretch, jump, and shapeshift within the sculpture.

“I have an internal story that I tell myself while I’m performing,” she says, since she’s unable to see how Hermes appears to the audience. “And then, it is alive, and the movements come, and the shapes happen just naturally.”

Her internal story involves immigration to Canada from Uruguay at the age of 19 – accompanied by internalized racism, pressures to assimilate and the privilege of being north of the equator.  Habitat ‘s story of finding a home in one’s identity elicits varied emotional registers: fear, curiosity, discovery, confrontation and suffering.

“At the beginning, I started experimenting with making the scene as dark as possible to see the body more as a mass of skin and flesh rather than arms, leg, [and] head,” she says about the performance’s eerie and mysterious atmosphere.

Raised near water, Szabo’s soundscape for  Habitat  includes crackling abaca paper, an oceanic soundtrack and her voice. She adds texture to the sounds by mimicking eating noises or blowing bubbles. An online recording of her performance will also be available (Jan. 29–Feb. 9). Szabo hopes that  Habitat  will resonate with audiences, reminding them of moments in their own lives.

Embracing shadows

Sammy Chien and Caroline MacCaull of Chimerik bring their multimedia dance production,  Inner Sublimity , to the Vancouver Art Gallery’s second floor Feb. 7 to 9. Crossing Eastern and Western philosophies, the performance touches on spirituality, rituals and traditions. Rather than seeing the dance, Chien encourages the audience to feel the immediate sensations occurring “before cognition.”

“I think there’s something quite special about witnessing the body live and seeing performance through the body,” adds MacCaull. “It feels almost sacred to gather and witness and to be in a shared experience together.”

Chien notes that the original Chinese character for dance depicts a ritual-performing shaman, reminiscent of the ability of dance to share knowledge that is beyond the merely visible. It opens space for self-exploration. The dance of  Inner Sublimity  is a slow transformative movement that also considers the changes within its environment.

“If you blink, then things will be moving slowly and breathing,” MacCaull says. “But it’s something that’s quite meditative in nature in the way that we’re kind of moving through the experience.”

The co-creators see technology as a collaborator that brings an element of the unknown to their work. Their upcoming performance uses a new sensor setup– one that is mounted to a pendulum with a webcam. Developed by audiovisual producer Ove Holmqvist’s co-founded company Holonic Systems, the sensor gathers data, which is then visualized and projected to the audience in real time.

“What I’m interested in with this kind of duet… is showing the light and the darkness, like the shadows that are within all of us,” says MacCaull.

She adds that embracing darkness or shadows is as important as welcoming lightness; both are central to the human experience. MacCaull’s hope is that  Inner Sublimity  encourages audiences to challenge their biases, enabling more empathy and understanding.

“We really hope the audience can walk out and make new connections with themselves and with the world,” adds Chien.

For more information, please see www.pushfestival.ca