NEW YORK, NY.- I first encountered dance artist Gehao Zhang at a dance film screening event. As the lights dimmed and the screen flickered to life, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But within minutes, I was captivated. The dancers on screen seemed to drift between reality and dream, each frame alive with tension and poetry that felt both familiar and refreshingly new. It wasn’t just the choreography that drew me in; it was the way the dance was captured—how the camera moved with the performers, becoming a vital part of the storytelling.
Intrigued, I sought out more of Zhang’s work and quickly realized there was much more to his artistry than choreography alone. His extensive experience in new media, developed through cross-industry collaborations, gives him a unique perspective on dance. Zhang is not simply a choreographer who occasionally dabbles in film; his understanding of new media allows him to rethink dance entirely. He looks beyond the traditional stage, exploring how dance can be expressed in ways that transcend live performance. His dance films, for instance, do more than document movement; they redefine it, showing how the camera can be as expressive as the dancers. The result is a seamless blend of movement and imagery that feels both innovative and deeply engaging.
"Gehao Zhang's choreography transcends the physical stage, seamlessly blending movement and new media to create a dance experience where the camera becomes as vital a performer as the dancers themselves." --Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt, Dance writer
Central to Zhang’s choreography is a deep engagement with the subconscious and the blurred boundaries between dreams and reality. Drawing from the theories of Freud and Jung, Zhang doesn’t merely reference these concepts; he weaves them into the fabric of his creative process. For him, the subconscious is not just a theme—it forms the core of his movement vocabulary. Zhang believes dance has the power to bypass rational thought and connect directly with emotion, making it the perfect medium to express the hidden layers of the human psyche. His choreography often feels like an emotional dialogue between the dancers and the audience. The dancers, through fluid and sometimes unpredictable movements, express the raw emotions and unspoken fears that reside deep within the subconscious. The audience, in turn, becomes an active participant in this journey, with the dreamlike quality of the performance evoking a visceral response that taps into their own subconscious experiences.
"In Zhang's work, dance is not just an expression of the body but a powerful exploration of the subconscious. His choreography feels like an emotional dialogue, drawing both dancers and audience into the hidden layers of the psyche." --Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt, Dance writer
In his piece The Dream of Night, Zhang uses mirrors strategically on stage to deepen this exploration. The mirrors reflect the dancers from multiple angles, creating an effect where reality appears to fold in on itself. As the dancers move, their reflections multiply and fragment, offering the audience several perspectives of the same moment. This use of reflection acts as a metaphor for the layers of the subconscious, where every action and emotion has hidden depths and meanings. The audience is drawn into this intricate web of reflections, seeing the dancers not just as physical bodies but as shifting, ephemeral presences that mirror the fluidity of dreams. This deliberate blurring of reality and illusion encourages the audience to question their own perceptions and engage with the performance on a deeper psychological level, transforming the performance into more than just a visual experience—it becomes a profound emotional exploration.
Zhang’s background in new media, which includes extensive collaborations with visual artists, filmmakers, and digital technologists, has profoundly shaped his approach to choreography. For Zhang, technology is not just an addition or a visual effect; it is a fundamental part of the creative process and integral to how he conceives and constructs his works.
"By merging interactive projection technology and improvisational dance, Zhang transforms each performance into a living, evolving experiment—an unpredictable dance lab where the boundaries between reality and dreams blur." --Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt, Dance writer
Web of Dreams, one of Zhang’s most distinctive pieces. In this work, he uses interactive projection technology to transform the stage into a dynamic, ever-changing environment. The projections are not just backdrop visuals; they are directly influenced by the dancers’ movements, creating a constantly shifting digital landscape. This evolving stage mirrors the fluid and unpredictable nature of the subconscious mind, where nothing is static and everything is in flux. The randomness and spontaneity of the projections make each performance a unique event, impossible to replicate. This demands a high level of improvisational skill from the dancers, who must respond intuitively to the evolving environment around them. Zhang’s approach turns each performance into an experimental dance lab, where the boundaries between choreography and improvisation blur, and the outcome remains unknown until it unfolds on stage.
In Pulse of Life, Zhang pushes this concept of unpredictability even further by incorporating data visualization and algorithmic choreography. Here, real-time physiological data—such as the dancers’ heartbeats and breathing patterns—are translated into visual and auditory elements that shape the performance. The lighting and sound constantly adapt to the dancers' physical states, creating a feedback loop that ensures each show is entirely unique. This approach turns the performance into a living organism, responsive to the immediate conditions of the dancers, challenging traditional notions of choreography as a fixed sequence of movements. Instead, Zhang’s work embodies a dance experiment where spontaneity and the dancers’ ability to improvise become the core of the artistic experience, making each performance a one-of-a-kind event.
Zhang’s approach to dance film further exemplifies his integration of the camera and new media as intrinsic parts of the choreography, rather than just tools for documentation. In his films, the camera doesn’t merely capture the dancers; it moves with them, becoming an essential part of the performance itself. This fusion treats dance and new media as equal collaborators, each shaping and influencing the other. For Zhang, the use of new media is embedded within the dance, requiring a deep understanding of both fields to create innovative and impactful work that transcends traditional boundaries.
Gehao Zhang is not just redefining what dance can be—he is exploring new ways to understand and experience it. By merging dreams, the subconscious, and new media technology, his work invites us to look at dance from a fresh perspective, where movement and technology are seamlessly intertwined. Whether on stage or on screen, Zhang’s innovative approach draws the audience into a compelling world of movement, creating an experience that is as thought-provoking as it is emotionally powerful.
