News

Visual Expressions

October 13, 2011

Janet Anderson for Philadelphia City Paper

Arts and Entertainment

Sat., Oct. 15 (Friday performance sold out), 8 p.m., $20-$30, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut St.

[ dance/theater/puppetry ]

Returning from a trip to Indonesia, Taiwanese dancer-choreographer Kun-Yang Lin has refreshed his American experience by "touching back [to] my base." Meanwhile, his travel companion, local dance innovator/Drexel professor/performer Olive Prince, was introduced to a whole new world of inspiration. Back in Philadelphia, the two dancemakers join Chinese puppet artist Hua Hua Zhang and her troupe, Visual Expressions, to produce Two Hands. The performance may include 12 dancers, but Lin and Zhang emphasize that this is much more theater-based. The dancers will be accompanied by puppets manipulated by hands or long sticks. "It's an ancient art," Lin stresses. "The puppets give you a sense of awareness of where you are and who you are." Or as Zhang poetically explains: "You send energy through your body and hand into the puppets. What people learn from me," she adds, "is how to move with objects."

Sat., Oct. 15 (Friday performance sold out), 8 p.m., $20-$30, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut St., 215-898-3900, annenbergcenter.org.