Schwarz

Zhechang Yuan AKA Mr. Chaos; München, Bayern

Schwarz – Person im dunklen Outfit bei lila Licht, fokussierte Hände in kunstvoller Haltung.

A solo performance that reveals the many meanings of the colour black: death, coldness and rebirth, structurally inspired by the “Twelve Stages of Life” in Chinese yin–yang philosophy, it uses the movement languages of krumping, waacking, breaking and martial arts to express, through poetic imagery, what is so often left unspoken.

Production 

It is almost three o’clock in the morning as I type these words onto my screen. Everything around me is black—even my monitor, set to night mode. But, strictly speaking, that statement is not quite true. Not everything is black; in fact, nothing is. The Wi-Fi router glows green, the power socket shines red, and yellow light spills in through the window. Even where no light falls directly, nothing is truly black. Everything is grey, like the cats roaming the streets at this hour—without exception.

True black is rare—and becoming ever rarer. It is something extraordinary: the sum of all colours and the absence of light; the coexistence of certainty and uncertainty. Black is the primordial state. It is where everything begins, and where everything will ultimately end.

In this performance, which bears that profound title, I reveal the many meanings of black through movement: death, coldness, rebirth—and the subjects we rarely choose to speak about. Drawing on krump, waacking, breaking and Chinese martial arts, I use these movement practices as expressive tools to convey these ideas through poetic and evocative imagery.

The work is structured around the “Twelve Stages of Life” (十二长生) in Chinese yin–yang philosophy, where the dramatic arc does not follow the familiar trajectory of the hero’s journey but instead unfolds as a continuous cycle. Rather than fixing every movement in choreography, much of the performance is improvised, making each presentation a fresh challenge, both physically and mentally. It is an experimental journey that I undertake together with the audience.

 

By and with

Zhechang Yuan (袁喆畅) AKA Mr. Chaos

Next date:

• Date Sunday, 27/September/2026 19:30
• Venue Haus der Berliner Festspiele - Seitenbühne
• Address Schaperstraße 24, 10719 Berlin-Wilmersdorf