An Unexpected Performance

Feel the impact, and get immersed in it, translated…

I’d started my “Walk-Out Mime” plan since 2011, I’d trekked across the towns and cities in China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, and Nepal as well, through my performances, I’d created many enjoyable experiences shared by me and the local people.  My red, white and black tri-color makeup miming face no matter if I was in the midst of a colorful background, or just simple ones, I’d stood out.  We took our miming bodies, played on on the freshly harvested fields, played with the stems from the chopped off plants, performed the stories of the local legends, became, the most beautiful scene; in September, when the typhoons had just passed us, on the rock formations eroded by the ocean waves in Hualien, I’d used my body and the space, told the story of the legend of the Moon Caves; in the island of Indonesia, we’d worn the plastic suitcases, and portrayed ourselves into the hermit crabs that’s made the garbage shells, crawled amongst the local residents………and yet, in the close-to-seven year’s program, there were a couple of times, I’d wanted to halt my own performances where I was set out to perform, put up my makeup, and my costumes, didn’t want my intrusion to break the peace of the places.

In 2011, I’d taken my miming act to Sichuan.  My friend in Chengdu said, you need a special place to perform in, you can try Beichuan, that’s still locked down.  Back then, I’d still tried to get an assortment of various experiences of performances under my belt, and so, didn’t matter how far I’d had to go, so long as it’d added to the depth of my performances, I was more than willing.  From Chengdu to Mienyang, then on a seven-hour bumpy ride on a Jeep, to Yuli, it took us four days, and finally, we’d entered into the region which was impacted more seriously by the earthquake back in 2008—the Old Beichuan.  The town that’s located up a hill, that’s the center of the earthquakes was nearly completely, destroyed, the bridges broken, the roofs collapsed, the foundations were shifted, walking in the midst of it all, you’d felt shell shocked by what you saw.  The local governments relocated the survivors to another place, and named it, New Beichuan, and this site of ruin was, preserved, the dangerous, not yet completely collapsed buildings were fenced in, with the warning labels, and this small town in the mountains, became, a historical site of the earthquakes.

And, I already felt displeased, that we were asked to buy the tickets to enter.  And, my makeup in my hand was already, crushed, the more I’d walked toward the center, the more my heart sank.  This old Beichuan, the plants still flourished here, to the point, that they’d, covered up the tracks of traces of people who’d, lived here.  A group of tourists on a bus passed me by, and, the shutters of the camera started, the tour guide took the announcer and explained: there were still, many whose bodies weren’t dug up yet under here.  I’d felt nauseated, at the turn of the corner, there was a sign, “The loved ones are all laid to rest, do we dare, to dig them back up again?”, and finally, my tears came, uncontrollably, first, it was for the sake of how powerless, and small we are, then, for the shamefulness of the uneducated, and I was, one of them.

I’d put up my makeup case, walked out of this “graveyard”, I’d warned myself, as a performer, I should NEVER use the name of art, to just, pursued my beliefs.  Performances, those who are acting, with the members of the audience, that was a society, a group.  You can bring enlightenment to the audience, to lead them to think, use art, to help start a discussion, but, you’d needed to, consider all of these elements into the performances itself; otherwise, the performer may fall through the cracks of not finding a higher purpose for doing what we’re doing, and get trapped by it.

My friend from Chengdu asked me, did you perform?  I’d told him: I had, nature had, performed a show of warning before me, I was, a performer, also in the audience.  And I was, shocked and thrilled.

So, going to this site where people had died in an earthquake must’ve given this man a lot of impact, and, it’d made him realize, that whether or not, we’re all, a part of this huge world of mess, and, although the disasters may be natural, but, because of humans, the impacts from these “natural” disasters got worse.