Sharon Disney Lund Theater , 23th-24th October, 2025

Living Landscape explores how stories are shaped through bodies, technology, and memory. Reimagining the myth of Achilles, the dynamic dance theater work uses movement and media to sense unseen connections—embodying grief, care, and resilience as shared presence.

Reimagining Achilles as female, the project examines gendered pressure, constrained roles, and unspoken care, focusing on her relationship with Patroclus, where love is expressed through touch. The work invites audiences into a phygital landscape in which vulnerability becomes a source of strength, and living together is understood as an ongoing process of sensing, protecting, and transforming.

​

Conceptual Highlights

The research positions digital dance as a poetic and intimate form of care, rather than spectacle, treating technology as both an extended body and a metaphor for evolving identity. Central to the work is the figure of a virtual Warrior Mother, framed through a maternal and relational lens, through which text and lyrics are transformed into movement-driven narratives embodied by performers.

The project presents a fully structured reimagining of the Achilles myth, choreographing not only physical bodies but also physical and virtual cameras, environments, and perspectives. Mythology, embodiment, and digital landscapes intertwine, allowing dance, design, poetry, and interactive play to coalesce into a living, evolving narrative shaped by presence and care. 

Performance strategies and bodily “games” support the hybrid system, enabling dancers to engage dynamically with virtual elements.

​

Key Integration 

• Live-streaming camera as dramaturgical lens, with projected visual composition 

• Motion capture avatars as mother of creation in the dance narrative

• Choreography developed in direct dialogue with technology

• Original design of Music, Costumes, Scenic, Motion capture system, Visual and XR ​

​

​​​

🔹 Performers 🔹
Avatar Thetis / Achilles’ Heel: Sage Sanchez
Achilles: Siena Riga
Patroclus: Huitong Li
Agamemnon: AJ Storey
Briseis: Kojiro Forman
Peleus / Stage Camera Operator: Rishi Sharma
Achilles’ Heart: Alondra Gallardo
Narrator / Thetis’ Voice: Savannah Koenig

🔹 Creative Team 🔹
Choreographer / Director / Video Designer: Zelia ZZ TAN
Producer / Production Manager: Fina Zhou
Costume Designer: Kaiqi Zhang
Scenic Designer: Arushi Kejariwal
Lighting Designer: Clay Pisto
Lighting Co-Designer: Quinn Iris
Sound Designer / Compose: Ilai Gilbert
Stage Manager: Ruiqi Tong
Dramaturg: N.K. Iriel, Kobina Hagan
Scene 1 Composer: Sylvia Celes
Scene 3 Part 2 Composer / Vocalist: Polo Onguru
Assistant Video Designer / Operator: Nellie Xie
Technical Director: Cheraya Esters
Rehearsal Director: Libbyhana Stephens
Visual Artists: Jason Fanzhou Zeng
Avatar Designer (Guest Artist): Tian Zhang
Virtual Camera Designer: Samantha Yunhsuan Cheng
ML VFX Developer: Hera Kang
Avatar Rigging Expert (Guest Technologist): Joseph Wesley Moon Watson
Graphic Designer: Grisis Yu

​

Special Thanks
Calarts school of dance and school of theater
Committee Members: Julie Bour, Peter Flaherty, Chris Akerlind, Katie Peyton Hofstadter
Intellectual Guiders: Brigettee Dunn Korpela, George M. Yin
Movement Research Performers: Euseon Song, Miranda Nicole Cooper, Poppy Louise Miller
Virtual Production Experts: JC Leon, Daniel Sierra
Sound Technologist / Engineer: Eric Max Kaplin
2-Week Research in A+E Lab with Stella Speziale, Shuyu Zhang, Joseph Whitmore, supported by Aoi Nakamura & Esteban Lecoq
House Announcement Speech: Miriam Randolph
Photographers: Julian Clay Shelton, Michael Alvarez, Yuqiao Zhang
Videographers: Charlotte Sun, Abraham Perez, Julien K. C

Associate Producer / Landscape Ally ($300+)
Robert Tomoguchi, Paul Tam
Achilles Circle ($100+)
Pearl Lau, Magnolia Sanchez, Peter Nelson, Na-ye Kim, Man Hok Yee
Ritual-Witness ($50+)
Ari Kalinovski, Kuik Swee Boon, Daniel, Allison Yang Jing, Vivian
Eco-Warrior ($25+)
Churan Wu, Mike Forman, Debbie Ding, Yuchen Liu, Shirley, Clare Marie, Kate Ladenheim, Ben Baker, Lisha Chen
The Heel ($10+)
Elizabeth Howland, Rose’s Deli
Mocap powered by Movin

​

​​

Workshop trailer on social media 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOCrrYdCf2f/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

​

Photography of the dress rehearsal by Julian

https://gallery.julianclayshelton.com/zeliasrehearsal/

​

More detail about the project & creative team & narrative & songs in Program Notes https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UH0Vyv9HroUlQyxcWPO6eZxGVOZMsNq5/view?usp=sharing

​​​

Contact for more details and support the project!