Tuesday 15 JUNE 2021 at 9.00 p.m.
Villa Giulia – Salone Grande Piano Nobile
Corso Zanitello, 8 – Verbania

TOPOGRAPHY OF BREATH 2.0

by Pat Toh (SG)

DANCE – NATIONAL PREMIER
In collaboration with Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo

➣ Duration 50’
➣ Ticket 10 € 
➣ Buy your ticket online

Topography of Breath 2.0 is a virtual encounter with skin, flesh and breath, which takes from Toh’s ongoing exploration of the body in relation to contemporary work, productivity and exhaustion. In response to current body politics on breath, the complex questions on power, domination, representation, the other are ever more urgent. The breath is an instrument to compose new realities even if for a brief moment to understand the complexities of the world. As Singaporean artists where economic performance forms the national identity, the body becomes a form of human capital to be disciplined for constant growth. One’s physical endurance and prowess parallels the capitalistic society that demands faster, longer, stronger performance from its subjects; the measure of neoliberal resilience. Through a single channel video played on a loop, the audience experience up close the sweat and tension reverberating through Toh’s body as she pushes herself through extreme states of breathlessness. In this time of restricted travel the involvement of a local live performer becomes a mean of breathing with and through another body, from virtual to life. The breath as sort of “transition, translation and transmission” between bodies and cultures.

Pat Toh

Is a performance maker whose work centers on investigating the remnants, effects and trauma of ideology and bio-power. A Shell-NAC Arts Scholarship recipient, she trained at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (Australia) and graduated with a Bachelor of Dramatic Arts (Acting). She holds a Masters of Arts from the National Institute of Education (Singapore). Her work Pretty Things was nominated for “Production of the Year”, “Best Director” and “Best Ensemble” in Singapore Life Theatre Awards (2012). She has presented at Raw Series at Esplanade
Theatre Studio, M1 Fringe Festival, Indonesia Dance Festival and State of Motion. She was Substation artist-in-residence and currently an associate member at Dance Nucleus, a space for independent dance makers in Singapore.