Photos from HellBond: Dancing With the Spirits at Asia North Festival

You traveled from Baltimore to Seoul to discover Korean Musicology. What was it like to return to Baltimore and engage in Korean drums and cello for this efficiency?

Dami: It all started off with a class I took for the duration of my undergrad yrs identified as “Musics of the Globe.” I’ve normally had a fascination with the connection involving new music and tradition and just the vast array of unique genres out there. I fell in enjoy with just about every new audio launched and even performed in my school’s Gamelan ensemble. UMBC allowed me to do the job toward an emphasis in Musicology with my General performance degree. To attain this, I was required to existing a investigation task in addition to my senior recital. I jumped at the chance and figured, the place far better to start than the place of my own heritage? I quickly linked with my mentors at KPAAA (Korean Carrying out Arts Academy of America), Pastor Hyung Joo Cho, and the late Ms. Before long He So. There I started to discover how to participate in Korean drums and commenced my education in Common Korean new music which turned the subject of my senior presentation. By the time I graduated, I understood I wished to retain exploring and, soon after saving up a little bit, I utilized to Seoul Nationwide College and blindly flew to Korea prior to even having my acceptance letter.

On my return, my mentors at KPAAA welcomed me back again with open up arms and we set on many key performances jointly. Sad to say, Ms. So handed absent unexpectedly final November soon after an intensive fight with hepatic cancer, and her husband, Pastor Cho, has been in mourning, so opportunities to carry out the drums had come to a sudden halt. Remaining ready to engage in in this efficiency was a little bit of a tribute to my mentors for almost everything they’ve taught me. As for the cello, I have been participating in all around with electric powered cellos and outcomes pedals for a long time but I felt like I lastly obtained a opportunity to develop and showcase anything outside the house the norm and clearly show absolutely everyone what a multipurpose instrument the cello is. 

This efficiency was component of a bigger celebration of Asian arts. What did it mean to you to perform this piece in Baltimore?

Hsiao-Chu Hsia: I am normally happy of the place I am from, Taiwan, a little island location that has younger but elaborate histories and cultures. As a outcome, it is my honor to come to be a element of this celebration this 12 months, talking for and supporting our neighborhood with other expert artists who are linked to Asian cultures. Also, the encounter coming again to Baltimore as an artist is exclusive for me due to the fact this is the to start with town that I settled down in the states, when I arrived as an artwork scholar. Baltimore is generally various, inspiring, and welcome.

Because Hellbond bargains with processing demise even though interacting with a reside viewers, how did this overall performance relate to your track record in psychology and neighborhood artwork?

Hsiao-Chu Hsia: Most of the common performances we see are 1-way displays. We send messages and information to the people today but we seldom listen to back from them. Very same, as an viewers, you go to the occasion, and to see and get what artists are telling by means of their performs. Most of the time there is a boundary in concerning, and soon after all, we go away the thoughts powering with no debriefing or chatting about them which can help us be mindful of our mental ailment and wellness. Therefore, I began to problem myself if a performance can be a bi-directional discussion for both equally performers and the audiences so that it types a particular space and time that allows and motivates all the individuals to imagine and communicate right at the moment. 

For me, this is a way that I have interaction with people today and the group as a performance artist. Similar from a psychological perspective, individuals feel otherwise when they are only bystanders but not individuals. By making interactive performances, I goal to provide alternatives for persons to not only “see” the subject matter in my operates but to “experience” by signing up for the procedure. Connecting this plan to our collaborative efficiency Hellbond, although this is not a regular interactive piece compared to my personal will work, steps like staring at audiences’ eyes, climbing in between folks, and inquiring for a way to pass non-verbally are choice approaches that I interacted with them. I want men and women to sense they were together currently being at the location that introduced rebirth by these times. They were being not only witnesses from a distance but participants alongside with us, the performers.