Resident Island Dance Theatre

Program: Ice Age (Chung-An Chang and Maylis Arrabit)
Running Time: 55 minutes, no intermission
Resident Island Dance Theatre website

Resident Island Dance Theatre will make its U.S. and ADF debut with Ice Age, an emotionally thrilling, physically integrated quartet co-choreographed by RIDT’s Artistic Director Chung-An Chang and French dance maker Maylis Arrabit. The 55-minute piece is performed by two dancers in wheelchairs and two standing dancers. As the world locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic, the work took shape—to explore the different ways that people navigate and connect in their own cultural environments. It evokes the coexistence between parallel realities, separated by space-time and at the same time, united by it. Ice Age challenges external forces and shows us the potential of a physically, mentally, and emotionally integrated world. “All the things that make up daily life and relationships are changing. That’s the main concept,” says Chang. Ice Age is “a choreographic experiment to uncover, recognize, and relate to this new moment of change in motion not just for some, but for us all.”

“ICE AGE is a triumph of cross-cultural connection. Chang is partially sighted, Arrabit is a wheelchair user, they live on opposite sides of the world and for much of the rehearsal process, could only meet online. Yet the results are wonderful. Able-bodied dancers Yi-Chen Juan and Shih-Yun Fang are as fluid as water as they traverse the space. Whether they’re dancing alone, dueting with each other, with Arrabit or her fellow wheelchair user Yo Cheng Cheng, their polished technique is captivating.” (4 stars) – The Scotsman