Vulture / Eve
Ching-Ying Chien
About Vulture / Eve
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A double-bill from internationally acclaimed Taiwanese choreographer, movement director and dance artist, Ching-Ying Chien, combining her first solo show Vulture (2018) with a new piece, Eve.
Drawing inspiration from a Tibetan myth: a vulture, sensing its end, flies into the sun to melt away. Echoing the Greek myth of Icarus, Vulture explores Ching-Ying Chien’s own experiences with loss, underscoring life’s uncontrollable nature and our human limitations. As a dancer, she finds freedom within the human frame, transitioning between animal and human states as she delves into life’s inherent limitations and profound freedoms.
Eve reimagines the creation myth, imagining Adam and Eve reborn after civilisation has collapsed, undone by technology. The piece explores humanity’s journey from primordial unity to individual emergence, moving from innocence to a pivotal awakening where past knowledge and desires unfold. Does humanity, stripped of technology, return to a simpler state? Eve is an invitation to contemplate our origins and enduring essence.
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Ching-Ying Chien’s physical ability is astonishing. Her tiny body possesses an explosive energy and a prodigious presence... the physical training and exploration of animal primitiveness have indeed made a deep mark on her work, enabling her to represent the haughtiness and insolence of the vulture, as well as its determination when facing death.
Meng-Hsuan Wu, critic for Taiwan Dance Platform 2018
She has such a remarkable presence that one dares not shift attention for a moment.
DavidMead, SeeingDance
About the artist
Ching-Ying Chien is a London-based, freelance Taiwanese choreographer, movement director, and dance artist. A long-standing collaborator with Akram Khan Company since 2013, her role in Until the Lions earned her the 2016 National Dance Award for Outstanding Female Performance (Modern). She also serves as a rehearsal director and workshop teacher for the company.
Since 2020, Ching-Ying has worked with James Thierrée's La Compagnie du Hanneton. Her diverse collaborations include art modelling for Cai Guo-qiang, performing and choreographing music videos for Plan B and The Chemical Brothers and co-creating Channel 4's Can We Live with Robots.
Vulture premiered in 2018 and gained international recognition at Aerowaves in 2023. In 2024, she created Penrose for English National Ballet, which was presented at Sadler's Wells and St. Paul's Cathedral.
Cast & creatives
Eve
Choreographer: Ching-Ying Chien
Co-creator: Alessandro Ottaviani, IssuePark (2024 version)
Performer: Ching-Ying Chien, Alessandro Ottaviani
Lighting design and operator: Lara Davidson, Chien-Hao Kuo (2024 version)
Sound and operator: Lara Davidson, Wei-Yu Huang (2024 version)
Props and scenography: Ching-Ying Chien
Copywriter: Nung Lin
R&D residency supported by L’Obrador and Sala Beckett Theater. Creation supported by Taiwan Dance Platform-National Kaohsiung Center for Arts in partnership with The Place
Vulture
Choreography and Performance: Ching-Ying Chien
Music composition: Soumik Datta
Music performance: Giuliano Modarelli
Lighting design and operation: Lara (Lars) Davidson
Costume Design: Marie Cantenys
The development of Vulture’s first 30 minute version was produced by Akram Khan Company as part of their Portraits in Otherness initiative, and premiered on 7 June 2018 at Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler’s Wells. A 40-minute version of was commissioned by National Performing Arts Center – National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, Taiwan.
Sponsored by the National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan. Made possible by a grant from the Lo Man-Fei Dance Fund, Cloud Gate Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan.
Special thanks: Man-Ching Hsia, Ronald YU, Marianne Unger, Yen-Ching Lin, Ben Sünkel-Laing, Project Zero, Akram Khan Company
