The truths of relationships are hard to grasp, often masked by impassioned emotions. What if they are negotiated like the cold confrontation of a chess match, contemplates choreographer Albert Tiong in Checkmate. In his exposition of life's endless battles, he imagines the clarity and immediacy of chess. Every match is a challenge - unforeseeable or anticipated. Take it in stride or ignore it. Yet every outcome is indisputable - a triumph or a defeat. Tiong pushes the limits of agility, integrating movement with the pulsations of breath and the malleability of space, in this gruelling and energetic work featuring former dancers from Taiwan's acclaimed Cloud Gate Theatre and Singapore.
Trained at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Tiong was a dancer with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and Singapore's Odyssey Dance Theatre, as well as a guest artist at the Hong Kong Dance Company. In addition to furthering his career as a choreographer, he is also an educator, teaching dance in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. Currently he is a resident choreographer/ rehearsal master of Frontier Danceland. Tiong created Checkmate as a special commission for da:ns 08 with a two-week residency at Esplanade.
