Ace Of Swords

[Trigger warning: femicide, death, strangulation, assault, intimacy violence.]

Ace of Swords is an original theatre and dance solo, transmuted from the artist’s recent near death experience, succumbing to a manual strangulation, among a series of physical and verbal violences, committed as actor on actor at workplace, male on female in intimacy, and Chinese American on Chinese in America.

The artist turns the experience of being killed and pursuing justice into an interactive jazz funeral and birthday party. The deceased gives eulogy to the living, and the unspeakable truth is told by the silenced.

Poetically mapping an adventure of surviving in parts, Ace Of Swords moves through extreme violence, generational misogyny, toxic masculinity and male rage, to shine warm, bright and medicinal sunlight on the cold, deep, and dark roots of lethal, pervasive yet minimized epidemic of femicide in the Asian and Asian-American communities.

It is an artistic attempt to face evil, drawing a sword without edge, a blade reflecting demons, and an enduring ace towards blossoming.

Previously developed in BAX emergeNYC'25 led by george sanchez and Talk Your Shit Workshop by Ogemdi Ude at Movement Research.
Photo Credits: Manuel Molina Martagón