The Question... Choreographer Yvonne Ng on SoloDuet

Flying from Beethoven's Fifth and other inspirations
by Estelle Rosen

Born and raised in Singapore, of Peranakan Chinese descent, Yvonne Ng (B.F.A. Honours,York University) is a Toronto based dancer, choreographer, presenter, producer, curator, arts educator and artistic director. An Ontario Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts award winner, Ng is the artistic director of princess productions (since 1996), the umbrella organization for tiger princess dance projects (tpdp) and the award-winning dance: made in canada/fait au canada festival which she produces and curates. She has taught in the dance departments of Ryerson and York University, the theatre department at Juniata College (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) as well as Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and La Salle College of the Arts (both in Singapore). Ng has toured tpdp to Singapore, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Australia, China and across Canada. She is also artistic director of Series 8:08 (since 1994). Ng will choreograph SoloDuet, two new works exploring identity and its fluidity,  in collaboration with dancers Mairéad Ellgate, Luke Garwood, and Linnea Wong May 6-10 at Toronto's Theatre Centre. www.princessproductions.ca

CHARPO: As choreographer of SoloDuet, what were some of the challenges in presenting these two dance pieces, how do they complement each other and what would you like audiences to come away with?

NG: I'd like to first state that these two dance works were not created to be a diptych.  I have made related works in the past and this time, mostly due to circumstances, both works come from very different inspirations and processes. There was a challenge in allowing these dance works to grow organically and independent of each other. On the one hand, I didn't want the same choreography or movement vocabulary showing up in both works and at the same time, I had to guard against the two pieces becoming polar opposites. Each has to stand on its own merits. (cont'd)