👉 Ticket claim: Please get your tickets before the performance date or 90 minutes before the performance and follow our staff’s guidance to keep social distance.

👉 Each Attendee Requires a Ticket. Children under 1.2m must be accompanied by their parents, infants are not allowed, and children should be reminded not to make any noise during the performance, otherwise the concierge will ask them to leave.

👉 The audience can start to enter the auditorium 60 minutes before the performance starts.

👉 No Cancellation

If silence could speak…

Breathing is dance: inhalation, pause, and exhalation are the fundamental conditions for existence. PHONATE (solo) invites audiences to open the senses and reflect on an essential part of life—breathing. A four-hole harmonica and a piece of muscle tape continually reconstruct historical fragments of the work in a minimalist setting. Choreographer Wayson Poon bridges the audience with PHONATE (solo) and the essence of breathing through exhibition elements and interactive segments, creating multidimensional possibilities for artistic interpretation. The vibrations of air through breathing connect us to our subconsciousness and the unspoken reflections.

Wayson Poon’s choreography is informed by Taoist notions of “Qi” and the movement and meditation practices Liquid Body and 5Rhythms. The research and development of this work was conceived through the residency exchange project Creative Meeting Point: Hong Kong x Finland (2016–2018). In 2023, WestK commissioned Poon to create a full-length ensemble dance work titled PHONATE, which received critical acclaim. This solo version is an adaptation of the original performance.

This programme is commissioned and produced by West Kowloon Cultural District, co-presented by West Kowloon Cultural District and Shanghai International Dance Center Theater, as part of the WestK Shanghai Week 2025 organised by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA). WKCDA’s Travel Partner Cathay is the Lead Sponsor for WestK Shanghai Week. WestK Shanghai Week is supported by Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism as well as the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Shanghai of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Shanghai United Media Group and Shanghai Media Group are the media partners.

Foyer Exhibition
PHONATE (un/taped)
Exhibiting a dance-making journey

The contemporary dance work PHONATE premiered in February 2023 at The Box, Freespace in the West Kowloon Cultural District. Developed over four years, this project integrated choreographer Wayson Poon’s movement research and social concerns into a 50-minute performance, aiming to evoke connections among different life forms and to rediscover inner resilience through breathing after the pandemic. This work is complemented with an exhibition titled PHONATE (un/taped), presenting the evolution of the creative materials while suggesting a deconstruction of the dance creation. The exhibition shares and demystifies the application of dance imagery and rehearsal strategies within the work. Attendees can not only experience artist’s exploration and thought processes during the actual rehearsals, through elements such as video, rehearsal tools, and new media installations, but also view the archival documentation of the work.

WestK Shanghai Week is supported by Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism as well as the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Shanghai of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Shanghai United Media Group and Shanghai Media Group are the media partners.

Date:
2025.6.18-6.20 (18:00-21:00)
2025.6.21-6.22 (13:00-16:30; 17:30-21:00)
(Access during 15:30–16:30 & 17:30–18:30 on June 21–22 is restricted for ticket holders only. Reservations are required for other timeslots. See official account for details.)
Venue: Foyer of Experimental Theater, Shanghai International Dance Center
Commissioned, Produced and Co-presented by: WestK, Hong Kong
Co-presented with: Shanghai International Dance Center Theater
Acknowledgement: School of Dance, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts

Choreographer and Performer: Wayson Poon
Hong Kong-based contemporary dance artist Wayson Poon has lived and worked in Europe and Asia as a creator, performer and researcher. His unique practice, known as OnthewayDance, combines eastern and western spiritual methodologies, is guided by Taoist notions of “Qi” and emphasises the connection between dancer and audience. Notable works include Vortex, Moving a memory and PHONATE. His works have toured festivals in Denmark, Finland, Japan, Italy, China and the UK.

Poon was awarded the Hong Kong Arts Development Award for Young Artist (Dance) in 2016. He received the Asian Cultural Council Fellowship in 2019 to further develop his movement research. He received the Dr Tom Brown Memorial Scholarship and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund Scholarship in 2022 to complete his Master’s degree at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with distinction.
In recent years, Poon has been actively contributing to the community art and professional artist development project. He has become an instructor for the Jockey Club Dance Well project. He has become a mentor to support emerging dance artists’ creative process in the “Flo-Choreographic Journey of Street Dance Theatre” project organised by the Hong Kong Street Dance Development Association.