Stage

Beijing Improv presents a Thanksgiving comedy special. Beijing Improv is the first and longest Improv organization in China. Run by ex-professional and semi-professional performers, Beijing Improv is an all-volunteer organization that holds regular English, Chinese and Bilingual shows in the Gulou and Sanlitun area. In addition, Beijing Improv runs free weekly bilingual workshops with the objective to offer everyone a chance to experience Improv and share in the Improv spirit! All proceeds from Beijing Improv performances are donated to the community.

For more information or for tickets, visit: https://yoopay.cn/event/57204733

Join us for one more Thursday dedicated to cultural influences and fusions from all the round the world blended into music, dance, theater and stage performaces. This week we are welcoming our old, good friends. For their latest stage performance we werent able to host to all who wanted to see it. Modernista was literally packed! Lets welcome again Ravi and The Shadows!

Shadow puppets are designed and managed by experienced puppet master Wang Yu Guang with a contemporary music twist thanks to Ravi's experimental influences.

Wang established RONG shadow play studio in 2013, promoting the old and beautiful art of Chinese shadow puppetry. The term Rong has a meaning of mixture and combination. Over the years, Wang has been collaborating with artists from different fields in a contemporary approach, in a bid of combining the merits of traditional and modern art.

Beijing born Ravi used to work as a photographer. When he was 35, he claimed to have heard the voice of destiny, started to travel around teh world to learn more about tribal music instruments. He has been travelling to Sudan, Egypt, India, Turkey, South Africa, XinJiang, Mongolia etc. In India, he studied at the Institute of Dhrupad In Bhopal, specialized in Dhrupad music, Sitar and Raga. As a tribal musician, he can also play rare tribal instruments from different regions which he believes have spiritual energy.

Jing Ran, guitarist of From Next In, and Southern Rock Metal Band will be joining them on stage.

More about history of Chinese Shadow Puppetry:

Shadow puppetry originated during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.) when one of the concubines of Emperor Wu Han died from an illness. The emperor was devastated, and he summoned his court officers to bring his beloved back to life. The officers made a shape of the concubine using donkey leather. Her joints were animated using 11 separate pieces of the leather, and adorned with painted clothes. Using an oil lamp they made her shadow move, bringing her back to life.

Shadow theatre became quite popular as early as the Song Dynasty, when holidays were marked by the presentation of many shadow plays. During the Ming Dynasty there were 40 to 50 shadow show troupes in the city of Beijing alone.

In the 13th century, the shadow show became a regular recreation in the barracks of the Mongolian troops. It was spread by the conquering Mongols to distant countries like Persia, Arabia, and Turkey, being later introduced to other Southeastern Asian countries. The earliest shadow theatre screens were made of mulberry paper. The storytellers generally used the art to tell events between various war kingdoms or stories of Buddhist sources. Today, puppets made of leather and moved on sticks are used to tell dramatic versions of traditional fairy tales and myths. In Gansu province, it is accompanied by Daoqing music, while in Jilin, it is presented with Huanglong music forms, some of the basis of modern Chinese opera.

UmbauStadt is a 30-hour, perpetual, real-time AV collage of 60 filmed and recorded places at 30 locations in Beijing and 30 in Berlin. The work follows a simple and straightforward approach, tracking the parallel process of deconstruction of these 60 places and the concurrent construction of a new place, a non-documentary document, becoming present in front of the audience and pointing out newfound models for the present perception of synchronicity and future dialogues.

Altering between Beijing and Berlin, each location is split into a visual and sonic information layer, which are both loaded into a custom application that independently and randomly assembles the two layers into a new audiovisual composition along given parameters. Embedded in the application are different modes to color, filter and modulate the original sound, causing the sonic character to constantly evolve and to change from naturalistic, to modified, to musical.

UmbauStadt disintegrates both cities into pieces, and installs a digitally refurbished representation of their simultaneous actuality. UmbauStadt transforms the locations of these two cities and merges their separated fragments into the undefined and permanently modulated scenery of a new city.

The installation will run for 30 hours, appearing in the pauses and breaks between the main events of the Goethe-Institut's 30th anniversary celebration at their space in art district "798" on November 17 and 18. It is a collaborative installation by Berlin-based artist and musician Wang Menghan and Beijing-based artist and curator Markus M Schneider / MMS, along with Hangzhou-based artist and musician Wang Changcun.

Audiovisual installation
UmbauStadt - 30 hours in places

17/11 14:00 – 18/11 20:00

Venue: throughout the entire space, Goethe-Institut China
Address: Originality Square, 798 Art District, Jiuxianqiao Road No. 2, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Artists: Wang Menghan, Markus M Schneider / MMS, Wang Changcun
Free Entrance

The Artists

Wang Menghan

Wang Menghan is a Berlin-based sound artist, electronic music producer and DJ. She works with musical and spatial sources and their sonic qualities, conceptually disintegrating their elements and rearranging them into new musical, audiovisual and spatial compositions. MengHan's music blends minimized beats, spherical developments, and subtly pounding, deep pulsing structures, oscillating between rhythmic etudes, throbbing percussion and evolving soundscapes. Her DJ sets fuse techno with various melodic and abstract elements, including noise. MengHan has performed at many of China's major electronic music venues, including The Shelter, Oil, Zhao Dai, Lantern, DADA, and Yugong Yishan, as well as at festivals including Audi Urban Electronics, Prajnasonic’s T.A.U.M, and BEME (Beijing Electronic Music Encounter). As part of the Sino-Indian Music Alliance), she and Shao became the first Chinese artists to tour in India. MengHan's deep immersion in China's electronic music scene has led her down a persistently evolving path of composition and artistic practice.

https://soundcloud.com/menghan

Markus M Schneider / MMS

Markus M Schneider / MMS is a China-based creative hybrid and artist, designer, curator, creative strategist and trans-disciplinary consultant. Coming from a profound background in contemporary art, since moving to Beijing from Berlin in 2008 he has been a constant presence on the city's creative scene, presenting concepts, projects and designs at multiple international symposia including Beijing Design Week and The Global School / B-Side. MMS is the founder of Metroprojects, a cross-disciplinary design and consulting studio with which he realized concepts for business designs, developed multiple large-scale events for brands and institutions including Audi and Goethe-Institut, as well as projects for architectural contexts such as for the UABB, Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture in Shenzhen. MMS co-founded Metrowaves, a platform fostering electronic music culture in China; Sinotronics, a net label focused curating contemporary music; and BEME (Beijing Electronic Music Encounter), China’s most profiled annual festival for live electronic music.
http://metroprojects.org

Wang Changcun

Wang Changcun is a Hangzhou-based sound artist, electronic musician and computer programmer. Active as an artist for almost 20 years, he is one of the most influential and prolific members of China’s avant-garde music scene, notable for his constant probing of the relationship between technology and music. Six of Wang's early works were included on the groundbreaking compilation China: The Sonic Avant-Garde, published un 2003 by American label Post-Concrete. Wang’s first solo album, The Mountain Swallowing Sadness, was published soon after by Belgian label Sub Rosa, and since then he has been a regular name at exhibitions, festivals, and compilations spotlighting Chinese sound art around the world. Wang’s latest album, 2018’s Song of Anon, was published by Beijing label D Force Records and earned as much praise for its music as for the innovative technical details of its composition, which include a custom-built Max patch as a compositional aide.

http://changcun.wang

Join the Conservatory of International Style and Cultural Arts (CISCA) in their gala performance of The Nutcracker. Student performers showcase their technical skills to give the audience an unforgettable experience. The gala aims to raise funds for the Tian Art Foundation, which helps highly talented, but underprivileged children in their development within the performing arts.

For tickets, extract the QR code in the image.

An Ode to Beijing is an unscripted (open mic) night of music, spoken word and storytelling, curated by poet & writer ND.

Brought to you in collaboration with our Friends @ BLK GEN - "Everyone has their Beijing story of why they chose to move here (or to stay here); be it for school, job, relationship or all of the above."

"And everyone has their Beijing story of why they’re leaving, be it for school, job, relationship or all of the above." Come thru and tell us YOUR story.

For more information, visit: http://www.tryclearcut.com/event/e1JOkAHc

Beijing Improv is China’s oldest and largest Improvised Theater organization. Its members come from around the world and have been trained in the best improv schools from New York, Chicago, California, the UK, France, New Zealand and more. Script-less, long-form is a popular type of improv that uses audience suggestions to create an extended scene. Attendees never know what is in store but there is always the guarantee of a laugh and a good time. Don’t miss this hilarious event!

Beijing Improv is a non-profit organization, so they donate all of their proceeds to a local charity Hua Dan which benefits migrant workers and children through the performance arts.

For tickets, visit: https://yoopay.cn/event/39730866

The Chaoyang Acrobat Show is in our opinion one of the best shows to see while on tour in China.

It appeals to all ages, from young children to adults. It is very visual and the show is not made of”tricks” but is feats of skill and fitness.

It is comparable to many international Cirque style shows but at a price much lower and an opportunity to sit much closer.

Show times:

Everyday: at: 16:00; 17:30 and 19:00.

Box Office Prices: 200/280/380/480/580/680/880

Discounted prices:200/220/300/380/480/580/700

We could issue E-tickets.

Contact Lucy:18600208126.

Wechat: lucy18600208126.

The 13th edition of the very popular "Hutong Heroes" comedy showcase comes to the US-China Comedy Center this Saturday, Nov. 3rd at 8pm. Comedians from America, China, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and maybe more will be on the show! For only 50 RMB you get to enjoy one of Beijing's best comedy nights at one of Beijing's best comedy venues. Scan the code or add ComedyClubChina on wechat to get tickets. You don't want to miss this!

The International School of Beijing Middle School Performing Arts program presents Honk! This musical tells the tale of the Ugly Duckling in a brand new way. Tickets are free.

For more information or to RSVP, visit: https://www.ticketor.com/isbevents
For detailed show times, please check the link.

Join Moonglow Burlesque for a night of vintage chorus lines, sexy showgirls, and the gorgeous vedettes, as they bring you an all new season program, MOONGLOW CABARET 1930.

Five sets burlesque extravaganza (total of 1 hour showtime) in style of 1930s films, musicals "Cabaret" and "Chicago", and vernacular entertainment of the American Prohibition times.

TICKETS: 190-240/person (incl a drink)

More about the show: https://moonglowburlesque.org/cabaret/