“Lin’s dancers were spectacular at delivering carefully executed steps, but Home was not about dance, it was about acceptance, pride, and identity. A research project that has blossomed over time, Home shone the light on a topic we often neglect.” – Gregory King, The Dance Journal 

“For me “home” is metaphor for past, present, future – the gifts, memories and weight that we carry with us, the communities in which we currently live and express, the physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual yearnings that we have. ” – Kun-Yang Lin

“The work isn’t narrative, documentary or memoir, but the energies of the many stories are sensed by the dance artists and abstracted and layered into the process of movement exploration, assembling and re-assembling.”- Kun-Yang Lin

 

A dance company takes a look at itself and its neighbors for its next creation—informed by the stories of the diverse community along Philadelphia’s famed South 9th Street corridor, where KYL/D’s dance center—CHI Movement Arts Center—is located, and where artistic and executive directors Kun-Yang Lin and Ken Metzner reside. From the intensely personal to the universal experiences of all who call a new place home, in this multilayered, multi-textured performance, Kun Yang Lin and his dancers use their bodies to tell layered and personal stories of immigration and displacement.

Inspired by the community engagement methodologies of Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles, Kun Yang Lin—himself an immigrant from Taiwan—reveals how for many individuals amongst Philadelphia neighborhoods, immigration is at the root of our identities. Original music composed by Cory Neale.

Through the creative process of “Home,” listening becomes a gesture of grace, a way to explore issues of social import, grapple with struggles for justice, and sow seeds for healing and community building through the arts.

“The dancers’ own stories, some as immigrants, some as newcomers to Philadelphia, all as members of this local community, and their individualized artistry are important contributions to the process.” – Kun-Yang Lin

Kun-Yang Lin is “Home”? by Steven Weisz

“In a post talk with dancers, Jessica Warchal-King, Evalina Carbonell, Rachel Hart, Liu Mo, Helen Hale and WeiWei Ma, it was made clear how each of them had lent to the movement with their own stories, some as immigrants themselves and others as members of a family that had their own immigrant journey. At the same time, the dancers expressed their huge responsibility in having been entrusted with the stories of others, which they now express through their own movements.

As Lin struggles to define his meaning of Home, he questions, ‘is it time to say goodbye to Taiwan?’ And yet, he continues to find himself ‘at middle points, that grey area – half east, half west’ and then adds ‘but half my life has been in Philadelphia’.” Read More

Story Circle: Part 1 

“This past Saturday, KYL/D had its second Story Circle with an immigrant family from the South Philly community. The Story Circle, a method adapted from Cornerstone Theater Company, is a forum through which the dance artists and collaborators engage with community members and collectively generate conversation, associations, images, memory, commonalities, etc. from personal experiences that can, directly or indirectly, inform the work.” Read More