REPORT ON GIVING BIRTH

Performance
Conceived by Wen Hui and Wu Wenguang
With Feng Dehua, Zheng Fuming, Wang Yanan, Wan Mei, He Zhumei, Wen Hui and Wu Wenguang
SAT 7th of June und SUN 8th of June, 20.00 h
Admission: 12 Euro, reduced 8 Euro
THU 5th of June, 18.30 h > Talkshow with Wen Hui
and Wu Wenguang (free admission)
SAT 7th of June > Postshow Talk

Independent Artists in Beijing
The Berlin Lab - Video Lecture Performance
With Wen Hui and Wu Wenguang
WED 11th of June, 20.00 h
Admission: 5 Euro

> The Idea
"Report on Giving Birth" is a multi-media dance theatre work concerning the living conditions of Chinese women, the relationship between women and men and the role of women in society. Largely based on women's real experiences and set at various child-bearing sites, the work expresses its theme it a feminine way.
In China, all women who lived through the 1950s to the 1980s experienced a unique period. Since the 1950s, women have been encouraged to get out of the house and take part in social production and labor. This trend reached its climax during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Only since the late 1980s did sex awareness come back to life. However, after realizing the sexual distinction some women began to make use of their bodies to please men or make money, without a sense of self-respect. In the 1990s, the scale of the problem escalated. These social phenomena provide the background material for this work.
Since 1995, in Beijing and several other cities, the creators of the work have interviewed more than 30 such women of various occupations and social backgrounds. The interviewees have included teachers, manual workers, housewives, midwives, a taxi driver, sociologists, engineers, writers and a editor. Their ages ranged from 93 to 21. The interviews took place at the spots where the women gave birth, and the women were asked to recall the experience and narrate their emotions, observations and perceptions of the child-bearing process.)

> The Form
The work adapts the forms of modern dance theatre, installation, direct sound material and film, combining movement with everyday materials such as recorded speech, snapshots and household articles. The film images and installations mix with each other, making daily life scenes a part of the stage performance. For example, the actor's voice is used to express women's isolation and openness, while body movements reveal the break-up and co-ordination of one's body and soul.

> The Stage
Properties and Materials Articles related to daily life and child-bearing environment in China, such as a sheet, cotton wadding, scissors, an oxygen cylinder, gloves, foot protectors, red shorts, mirrors, water tubes, glass bottles and milk. Other materials include an inter-uterine fetal sound device, VCRs, two video cameras and two projectors.

> The Makers
In 1994 the choreographer Wen Hui founded the Living Dance Studio as an independent dance company in Beijing. The works of the documentary filmmaker Wu Wenguang are shown throughout Europe, America and Asia. Their collaborations offer a portrait of contemporary Chinese society. Their work often deals with rapid economic growth - in a country where people willingly sell themselves to get ahead.

The other productions:

- Les feuilles qui resistent au vent >>
- The Global Soul - The Buddha Project >>
- Diva Siva >>
- Undesirable Elements Berlin >>
- The Incredible Disappearing Woman >>
- Mapplethorpe >>