Hybrid Dance Workshop: Choreographing the In-Between
Jul 24 to Jul 25, 2025
2:00 to 5:00 pm GMT
A+E Lab
Unit 1, building 64, Main Gate Road, The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, ME4 4TZ, United Kingdom (map)
A+E Lab is thrilled to welcome Zelia ZZ Tan - a multimedia artist working across film and technology, as well as a choreographer, dancer, and researcher at the forefront of embodiment and hybrid performance.
Zelia will lead a 2-day workshop inviting participants to explore the intersection of body, technology, and digital identity through dance. Join us to work with both physical and digital tools - spanning somatic practices, motion capture, and integrated video performance - to co-create a living landscape of movement, imagination, and transformation. Participants can choose to join for a single day or attend the 2-day series.
The workshops are open to new media students, dancers, technologists, choreographers, and interdisciplinary artists from all backgrounds. No prior dance experience is necessary - just curiosity and a willingness to engage. This is an invitation to step into the space between the physical and the virtual, and to imagine new forms of embodied expression.
Schedule:
Day 1: Sensing & Mapping the Hybrid Body
We begin with an introduction to motion capture and explore how our bodies are translated into data - through video, sensors, or interactive game formats. Through task-based exploration, we reflect on what it means to be seen as both human and machine. Participants will engage with the concept of a living landscape, examining how movement and identity shift across media.
Day 2: Embodying Digital Textures
The focus shifts toward choreography and animation. We explore how to build digital avatars, articulate character, and embody textures - across both our own bodies and others’. Through guided tasks, participants will create one-minute performance materials that choreograph both physical and virtual presence, which will then be shared and exchanged with the group.
Dates: 24-25th July 2025
Time: 2:00 - 5:00 PM
Location: A+E Lab, Unit 1, Building 64, Main Gate Rd, Chatham ME4 4TZ, United Kingdom
(40 minutes by train from London Bridge, St. Pancras and Victoria)
Price: Pay-what-you-can (Recommendation: 1 day £50, 2 days £100, paid upon registration)
Registration: Email zeliazztan@gmail.com with the subject line:
“Yes, I am willing to join on [insert date] for the Hybrid Dance Workshop at A+E Lab.”
Limited spaces available. First come, first served.
This workshop follows a pay-as-you-wish model. Your contribution will support Zelia’s travel and ongoing research.
Any questions about the residency please contact zeliazztan@gmail.com
Credits:
Zelia ZZ Tan in collaboration with TechDanceLab
About Zeila:
Zelia ZZ TAN is an emerging Asian multimedia artist, dancer, choreographer and researcher. Her creations are about the future, focusing on presence and identity through hybrid performances. Her work integrates motion capture, XR, avatars, and immersive technology to create deeply poetic experiences. Her performances include Accelerating Dimension, Sensing Adjacency, Auditus, Ephemeral Privacy, and Another Day on the Moon. Installation works include Foxtail, ID in Bodies, Light Weave, and H.A.I..
Zelia directed REfract, a hybrid performance featuring a solo dancer interacting with avatars, and VR tech, commissioned by West Kowloon Cultural District and co-produced with Goethe-Institute. From 2019-2023, Zelia joined City Contemporary Dance Company as a professional dancer. Her dance films were featured in 18 film festivals. In 2022, Zelia co-founded TechDanceLab, an experimental art platform. She works with master artists such as Gilles Jobin and Sasha Waltz.
Currently, Zelia is pursuing an MFA at CalArts, double-majoring in Interactive Media for Performance (Theatre) and Choreography (Dance), supported by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund and Asian Cultural Council.
About A+E Lab:
A+E Lab is an art and technology hub located in Historic Dockyard Chatham, led by AΦE, an innovative XR dance company and associate artist of the Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries/University of Kent.
We deliver 3 key strands of activities - Creation of AΦE's innovative productions, Technology and cultural community engagement programmes, and Presentation and curation of high-quality artistic work.
A+E Lab democratises access to high-quality art and new technology knowledge, providing space, equipment, events and networking opportunities to creative practitioners and local community. Since opening, we’ve engaged over 51,000 live audiences and participants, helping position Medway as a vibrant cultural hub with national and international connections.
https://aelab.uk
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