Guanglei Hui’s The Silent Voices: Moving Movement on the Immigrant Experience
By Sharon M. Chin
When Guanglei Hui immigrated from China to the United States in 2012, already an accomplished international modern dancer, he experienced barriers, agitation, and turmoil in acclimating into American life. Guanglei describes the experience as a silent scream, noting “a dream many people have is one in which they make an effort to scream but are unable to produce a sound. This is the situation for those newly arrived in America.” With “language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, and uncertain legal status,” as well as a recent climate of increased hostility and intolerance, “newly arrived immigrants are in a position of vulnerability but with meager ability to produce an audible sound and be heard.” In moving to Queens and New York City, the most diverse county in America and a city composed of immigrants, Guanglei observed these struggles, loneliness, isolation, and frustrations in his community daily. Guanglei, reflecting on his own experiences, emotions, and engagement with other immigrants, particularly Chinese immigrants, was inspired to choreograph The Silent Voices, a contemporary and modern dance piece to express the voices and shared experience of immigrants who are easily neglected in this fast-paced world through the universal language of dance.
A year in the making, The Silent Voices, premieres October 20th at the Queens Museum of Art. The piece is comprised of 7 female dancers who are all, whether intentional or not, immigrants or children of immigrants. Hailing from Japan, Colombia, France, Mexico, China, and more, their diverse identities emphasize the shared experience of the difficulties of immigration. Dancer Evita Zacharioglou, with Greek-Cypriot roots, speaks to the universality of the piece as “all immigrants undergo the transitions of acclimating to America” and believes that “the dance, whether moving as individuals but also simultaneously as a group, creates community and reinforces a shared sense of humanity.” Dancer Jacqueline Calle, a first-generation kid of 1980s Colombian immigrants, notes this piece reminds her to “never take identity or adaptability for granted and to navigate the world with the lens of those who sacrificed their known worlds and their lives to give [me my] opportunity.”
Guanglei did not speak English when he first came to the United States, stating “I can speak English now, but when I came, I struggled with English and still I struggle with English.” Guanglei knows this is a common experience for immigrants of all nationalities but believes “the language of the body can be universally witnessed, experienced, and understood. I fiercely wanted to use it to say something about my life and how with perseverance, there can be both small and large growth. I can use the body to viscerally communicate the difficulties of this experience.” And with Guanglei’s extensive dance training and experience, including ballet training at the Bikshek in Kyrgyzstan, performing with the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, China’s first modern dance company, and Shen Wei Dance Arts, Guanglei possesses a masterful understanding of the body and his own movement language. Guanglei founded his own dance company, Cross Move Lab, after increasingly being fascinated by the stories he could tell with the body and in the exploration of the body’s potential for movement. Cross Move Lab’s dance philosophy embodies new movement origination stemming from “body deconstruction, gravity, natural relaxation, force and borrowed force, use and conversion of bone power, the breaking of conventional spatial model, and an emphasis on the smooth application of gravity and weight in movements between the body and floor.”
The result for The Silent Voices is a kaleidoscopic pattern of phrases, moving through the dualities of calm and chaos, a calculated blueprint through which the dancers move. Dancer Jacqueline notes “In some moments we are overtaken by what feels like an immense external pressure, while maintaining a sense of pedestrianism. In an instant, we adapt, making quick adjustments to the vigorous physicality, symbolic of the tumultuous process of acclimating into a new life.”
Dress Rehearsal at the Queens Museum of Art
Within the six phrases of The Silent Voices,there is a section after silence, where the dancers are stuck in one place, all scattered, with mouths covered shut. Dancer Evita describes this, with a demonstrative hand over mouth, as a moment in which “we have something to say but are unable to communicate.We feel alone. But simultaneously and comfortingly, there are many of us and we are unified in our isolation.” The sound of hysterical laughter, cringingly close to the sounds of tears, and the original musical compositions of Yin-Han Zoe Yang and Julian Julien undergird The Silent Voices, reinforcing feelings of discord, chaos, and also calm. Guanglei notes “The music was made for my dance piece and closely matches my aesthetic. And it actually makes me clutch my heart.” There are other moments which cause the intake of breath, phrases which emphasize struggle, with one dancer’s movements constrained and forcefully weighted down by another. There is a phrase where the dancers move as if navigating a maze, perhaps not seeing the best path or a path out, but determinedly, albeit exhaustedly, moving along and persevering. Ultimately each dancer can and does move forward-whether minutely or magnificently.
In constructing The Silent Voices, Guanglei is experimental in his use of multimedia and space to reinforce his themes. When Guanglei first performed at the Queens Museum of Arts over a year ago, he noted that the performance space “felt like a swimming pool. And I thought about the experience of being in a pool and of how one could try to speak underwater but really be inaudible. It felt like the perfect space for this piece.” Guanglei and company have also developed “boxes,” in which the dancers move. Within these five tall massive fabric enclosed boxes, Guanglei notes “It’s like a dream from which the dancers can’t escape. Here, as they stick out a leg here or a head here, the body becomes fragmented. You are struggling like a machine to survive.”
Vulnerable, closed, discordant, calm, and chaotic- The Silent Voices may not message with words but speaks volumes about the American immigrant experience. With unique movement language, a first-hand immigrant choreographic perspective, and a cast closely connected to the immigrant experience, The Silent Voices offers a moving, empathetic, and emotional portrait of the immigrant experience. And while the immigrant dream begins with coming to America, the reality, as movingly portrayed by The Silent Voices, often lies somewhere between a path with agitation, fear, and hardship and a beautiful vision fulfilled. We can be thankful for Guanglei’s compelling choreography in giving voice to silenced voices.
More from Guanglei Hui
Where Can We See You Next: I will be premiering The Silent Voices at the Queens Museum of Art on October 20, 2019. I also teach an ongoing company based dance class at Peridance Capezio Center. Follow us at Cross Move Lab for more upcoming showings.
Who Are You Watching: I danced with Shen Wei and I am enamored of his movement quality. William Forsythe Dance Company also changed my understanding of using the body, particularly its play with tension, twisting, and technical movement quality. I also practice contact improv and follow Steven Paxton, one of contact improv’s originators back at Memorial Judson church in the 1970s.
What Bought You to the NYC Dance Scene: New York City is a holy place for artists, with unlimited energy and charming mystery. As a modern and contemporary dancer, I want to learn from it, meet wonderful people, and improve my art level. When I came here though, I had only one goal-- to get into Shen Wei Dance Company. Shen Wei treats every piece of dance as a piece of art, not just body motions. His educational influence is life changing. Currently I am devoted to my own work, under Cross Move Lab, and I hope I can gain acknowledgement and support from the great people in this great city.
What inspired your company name “Cross Move Lab”? When two lines cross, there is a dot. On that dot, that point of intersection of influence and ideas, is where my original dance originates. My artistic philosophy is based on that “Cross” and building from that Original Dot. “Move” extends the dot to an unlimited line. “Lab” stands for my attitude as a choreographer, the process is to have fun, to experiment and search for innovation, to be bold, and to reach more possibilities.
On Fatherhood , Dance, and His Daughter: My baby daughter is a natural dancer, although she just started to walk. Both my wife and I will teach her as she grows older. But to be a professional dancer is her choice.
One Fun Fact: I love to bicycle- but I don’t own a bike. In China, there are city bike share programs everywhere. Bikes were often faster and better than the bus and subway.
