as part of Fabbrica Europa 2024

Starting from everyday life experience, the project Something not right investigates the concept of ‘right’, or’ correct’, in contexts as varied as thought, politics, gender identity, memory. By interrogating the idea of ‘correctness’, the project automatically sets its gaze on everything that can be (and therefore is) labeled as ‘wrong’ or ‘incorrect’: ideas, politics, sexual orientations, collective and personal memory, history, aesthetics, art, body, organs, movements, rhythms, traditions, future.
Is setting two ‘correct’ points of view against each other an ‘incorrect’ act? When put together, can ‘wrong’ bodies create the ‘right’ image?

Another line of investigation is the link between ‘wrong’ and ‘strange’: something wrong going on is something strange, too. Strange images are a thread from which to read the uncanny and the unintelligible. Something ‘not right’ is not necessarily ‘right’ or ‘wrong’; it lies in that liminal, undefined region that, like Shrödinger’s cat, can only be observed by opening the box. In Something not right, all of these apparently contradictory facets are read both in the macro dimension (such as the nation-state) and in the lived individual experiences.
This kind of investigation, carried out by artists from very different backgrounds, has all the potential to reveal unexpected and original points of view.

Lian Guodong is a dancer, choreographer, co-founder of L-Square Performance. After graduating in literature from Capita Normal University, he joined Jin Xing Dance Theater in 2005 and afterwards joined Beijing Dance / LDTX. An independent artist since 2006, he has collaborated with numerous companies such as Living Dance Studio, Paper Tiger and Wang Jianwei. His works have been invited to many festivals in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Kunming and Hong Kong. Since 2023, Guodong is an associate artist at Mid-Mountain Dancers.

Lei Yan is a Beijing-based dancer, choreographer, co-founder of L-Square Performance. She graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy in 2006. Between 2009-2011 she was part of the Beijing Modern Dance Company and between 2011-2014 she was part of Tao Dance Theater. She often collaborates with Paper Tiger company and Wen Hui’s Living Dance Studio. She has cooperated with Lian Guodong since 2015; their works touch upon social issues, thought experiments and the physical boundaries of dance. Since 2023, Yan is an associate artist at Mid-Mountain Dancers.

concept, choreography: Lian Guodong, Lei Yan (L-Square Performance)
with Pierandrea Rosato, Michele Scappa and the performers of L-Square Performance
sound design: Katatonic Silentio
executive producer: Fabrizio Massini
co-production: Fabbrica Europa Festival, L-Square Performance
as part of the CRISOL – creative processes project

photo: Su Guoguang