Way of Landings (2026)
36-minute performance
Way of Landings was presented at Rutgers University–Camden in October 2026 as part of the exhibition Light of the Guiding Star curated by Stass Shpanin.
Way of Landings is a collaborative performance combining shadow installation, contemporary dance, and live music. The work emerged from my reflections on immigration, when moving to another country does not necessarily mean arriving somewhere, but entering a continuous process of becoming someone else.
The performance unfolds around rotating transparent cylinders covered with drawings. As the cylinders turn, their shadows move across the space in unpredictable patterns. The choreography was developed freely in response to these movements, allowing the dancers to invent their own physical language in dialogue with the shadows. The projected drawings travel across their bodies and costumes, sometimes making it difficult to distinguish the moving figures from the images. At times, these encounters become playful or absurd, as the bodies negotiate with shadows that seem to have a life of their own. The title Way of Landings reflects the contradiction between the desire to arrive and the impossibility of remaining unchanged. Rather than telling a linear story of migration, the performance explores what it means to search for a place while one's sense of self is still taking shape.
Idea, installation and costumes: Katya Muromtseva
Choreography and performance: Emily Aslin and Maya Lam
Music: Hannah Ishizaki
Musicians: Nathan Meltzer, violin; Wynona Wang, piano
Full performance documentation, 36:08