Choreographer Huang Yu-fen is previewing her latest work, “Hooke’s Law”, which examines how people interact with one another and process societal pressure.
How do you quantify pressure’s toll on the human body? Well, in this performance rubber bands are used as a metaphor for life’s many stresses. Dancers are pulled in various directions before they are snapped by the rubber bands. Here, stress isn’t something that piles up and accumulates, it’s tangible pain you can feel the moment it comes up. When pressure is translated into immediate pain you can feel, how might that affect people’s lives?
This latest work is called Hooke’s Law, and it’s the brainchild of choreographer Huang Yu-fen. Huang says she chooses to use rubber bands throughout her performance because they are something that can elicit fear from people. She says the anticipation of pain from a rubber band is something that can push people to emotional limits.
Rubber bands take on a different role in the show when female performers come on stage. The rubber bands are used to manipulate dancers’ actions, rather than to create pain. Rubber bands here symbolize the pressure society places on women. Huang says this part of the performance is taken from her own life experience. She says women are often expected to sacrifice their own careers and dreams to conform to society’s rules.
Hooke’s Law is still under development. It’s scheduled to premiere in late May in Taipei. However, in the leadup to its debut, the show promises to rethink the way people look at stress.