
April 11, 2014
Witness Touring 2014
Witness – Portraits of Women Who Dance
Coming soon to
The Place Theatre - London 14th June 8pm
theplace.org.uk
‘A beautiful piece of work, moving, inspiring and thought provoking – about dance, about women, about being in front of cameras…’
An invitation to witness three exceptional dancers as they collaborate in the making of their own choreographic portraits in this revealing documentary.
Three women talk candidly about their relationship with dance, performance and what it is to be watched.
The unique performances that result are both elaborate and supremely personal: as idiosyncratic as the women who dance them.
Excellence, intimacy and honesty in performance.
'The audience witnessed a process of candid exposure that was as moving as it was aesthetically pleasing.' CCQ Magazine
Choreography and Direction | Jo Fong Filmmakers and Editing | Filipe Alcada and Dawn Collins Dancers Ino Riga, “Theatre is a rehearsed life, pre-planned, you know your role.” Eeva-Maria Mutka, “Is this dancing?” Annabeth Berkeley, “You can’t always say the truth, sometimes you have to pretend.” “The films draw a fine line between what is real and what is performed and ask how is it to be watched or exhibited.” Jo Fong See trailer – Witness
Choreography and Direction | Jo Fong Filmmakers and Editing | Filipe Alcada and Dawn Collins Dancers Ino Riga, “Theatre is a rehearsed life, pre-planned, you know your role.” Eeva-Maria Mutka, “Is this dancing?” Annabeth Berkeley, “You can’t always say the truth, sometimes you have to pretend.” “The films draw a fine line between what is real and what is performed and ask how is it to be watched or exhibited.” Jo Fong See trailer – Witness
April 7, 2014
Witness Review – Sherman Theatre
CCQ magazine review by Emma Geliot
Click Here
“Fong’s thoughtful editing, always mindful of what she’s revealing about her subjects, is what makes this piece so compelling.”
“Over the course of just over an hour the audience witnessed a process of candid exposure that was as moving as it was aesthetically pleasing. And ‘witness’ really is the word here, for it implies more than passive engagement.” CCQ magazine. Review Sherman Theatre, Cardiff

March 20, 2014
New works – Cardiff
Dialogue - A Double Act
New works by Jo Fong and Heloise Godfrey–Talbot.
1st May, 8pm
Chapter Arts Centre
This mixed bill features performance, audio-visual work and the premier of Dialogue – A Double Act.
The collaboration is an evolving archive of work, a collecting machine, a gathering of material, instigations, ideas and dialogue. It is inspired by Amanda Baggs’ moving film entitled In My Language.
“I’m playing in uncertainty, miscommunication, communication, conversation, lost in translation, getting to know one another, the desire to be understood… the list goes on.” Jo Fong
The aim is to make something that is alive, spontaneous and honest. The drama is in what is happening right now.
Jo Fong is a director, choreographer and performer working in dance, film, theatre and the visual arts.
Heloise Godfrey-Talbot is an audio-visual artist who works with people and communities as her main medium. heloisegodfrey-talbot.com
£12/10

February 17, 2014
The Audience – Workshop
The Audience - Workshop led by artist Jo Fong
When 1.30 - 4pm 21st February 2014.
Where The Castle Theatre, Aberystwyth.
How much £5 This event has been subsidised by Aberystwyth University and Aberystwyth Arts Centre.
Workshop - I have been working on a way to perform The Audience. It is about connection, spontaneity, but also about uncertainty.
The workshop stages a process, the frame is there, we now need to fill it. The Audience appears as though it is being created right now. In places it is. What happens or doesn’t happen is influenced directly by the people in the room. We play the performer. We play the audience. We are the show. Is it now? The original research was strangely playful, alive, joyous and imaginative and therefore weirdly powerful and human. We opened the studio and discovered a profound way of meeting people.
For more information on The Audience click here https://www.jofong.com/portfolios/1049/
“Jo has a truly distinctive practice. It is deceptively simple, yet from simple parameters has managed to generate a potentially radical new interface between performers and audience, one based on empathy, similarity and the everyday rather than on “otherness”, competition or confrontation.” Richard Huw Morgan. Pitch, good cop bad cop.
Witness Tour 2014
1st February British Dance Edition 2014 Glasgow - Tramway
21st February Aberystwyth Arts Centre
13th March Theatr Brycheiniog (Brecon)
14th June The Place Theatre (London)
Dialogue - A Double Act is new work to be presented at Chapter Arts Centre (Cardiff) on 1st May 2014.
Photo credits John Collingswood and Heloise Godfrey
If you are interested in taking part please get in touch with Louise Ritchie lhr08@aber.ac.uk
About JO FONG
I am a director, choreographer and performer working in dance, film, theatre and the visual arts.
As a performer, I have worked for over 20 years including performances with Rosas, DV8 Physical Theatre, Rambert Dance Company, Mark Bruce Company, Nigel Charnock, Igloo and Quarantine Theatre. Current performance projects include Stupid Women at Juncture Festival, Yorkshire Dance – A reworking of Nigel Charnock’s inspired Stupid Men and directed by Wendy Houstoun. I will also be working with Unfinished Business on a new work entitled Change My Mind.
I am Associate Artist with Coreo Cymru and my artistic work is supported by Arts Council Wales and Sherman Cymru. Witness – Portraits of Women Who Dance was presented at British Dance Edition 2014 and is currently touring the UK. Currently I am developing three new live works and an installation all of which are born out of a period of research entitled The Audience. The first; Dialogue – A Double Act will tour internationally with Dance Roads in May and June 2014.
As an independent artist I present work that is thought-provoking and centred around people, dancers or players who translate, reveal or perform. The work is grounded in the idea of honesty in performance and looks under the skin: the psychological drives, motivations or inherent characteristics of an individual or group, creating a shared and considered relationship with an audience. The body is my first language, though text and voice work are regularly a part of the whole. I combine physical technical knowledge, agility and experience with a raw, rebellious and curious spirit. I endeavor to understand further and explore the scope for movement to communicate and to cultivate work that is generous, engaging and embodies an alternative beauty.
September 30, 2013
Bristol Class and Workshop
Neshima Dance Company presents
DANCE THEATRE WORKSHOP with Jo Fong
Sunday 27th October 2013 | 10.00 - 5.00pm | DanceSpace Bristol
Places are limited
Special Price: £15
To book, please email Veronica Cortes at:
vcortes1976@gmail.com
For further information click here

August 15, 2013
Classes and Workshops
Cardiff
Rubicon Dance
16th Oct and 23rd Oct
20th, 27th Nov
4th, 11th Nov
6 - 7.30pm
Adult Contemporary Classes
Half Term Intensive
31st Oct - 3rd November
Open Classes 10.30 - 12pm
3 day Nurture Workshop
1st - 3rd November
12.15 - 5.30pm
Nurture is a group of artists, dance teachers and graduates who gather to explore choreographic and performance work.
Jo will devise and choreograph a new work for the group to be performed as part of Rubicon's Community Dance Platform on 29th November 2013.
If you are interested in taking part please contact Paul Davies at Rubicon pauldavies727@btinternet.com

July 26, 2013
Witness – Sherman Theatre – Cardiff
Witness - Portraits of Women Who Dance
Sherman Theatre, Cardiff 26, 27and 28th September 7pm 02920 646900 | shemancymru.co.uk 'A beautiful piece of work, moving, inspiring and thought provoking - about dance, about women, about being in front of cameras…’ An invitation to witness three exceptional dancers as they collaborate in the making of their own choreographic portraits in this revealing documentary. Three women talk candidly about their relationship with dance, performance and what it is to be watched. The unique performances that result are both elaborate and supremely personal: as idiosyncratic as the women who dance them. Excellence, intimacy and honesty in performance.
Choreography and Direction | Jo Fong Filmmakers and Editing | Filipe Alcada and Dawn Collins Dancers Ino Riga, “Theatre is a rehearsed life, pre-planned, you know your role.” Eeva-Maria Mutka, “Is this dancing?” Annabeth Berkeley, “You can’t always say the truth, sometimes you have to pretend.” "The films draw a fine line between what is real and what is performed and ask how is it to be watched or exhibited." Jo Fong See trailer - Witness
Sherman Theatre, Cardiff 26, 27and 28th September 7pm 02920 646900 | shemancymru.co.uk 'A beautiful piece of work, moving, inspiring and thought provoking - about dance, about women, about being in front of cameras…’ An invitation to witness three exceptional dancers as they collaborate in the making of their own choreographic portraits in this revealing documentary. Three women talk candidly about their relationship with dance, performance and what it is to be watched. The unique performances that result are both elaborate and supremely personal: as idiosyncratic as the women who dance them. Excellence, intimacy and honesty in performance.
Choreography and Direction | Jo Fong Filmmakers and Editing | Filipe Alcada and Dawn Collins Dancers Ino Riga, “Theatre is a rehearsed life, pre-planned, you know your role.” Eeva-Maria Mutka, “Is this dancing?” Annabeth Berkeley, “You can’t always say the truth, sometimes you have to pretend.” "The films draw a fine line between what is real and what is performed and ask how is it to be watched or exhibited." Jo Fong See trailer - Witness
July 20, 2013
Classes and Workshops
Bristol
Dance Space
27th October 2013
10 - 5pm
For more information contact jo@jofong.com
July 14, 2013
Dancers Call
The Audience. Open Process by Jo Fong.
Jo Fong begins a new dance creation entitled The Audience.
She is looking for 2 professional contemporary dancers to join her for four weeks paid research from August to the end of September 2013
To kick start the development of the work she will be holding 2 open process weekends at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff.
20th, 21st, 27th and 28th July
10 - 6pm
The sessions are free of charge starting with a contemporary dance class led by Jo, then beginning the creative development of the piece with physical tasks and discussion.
If you are interested in taking part in one or both weekends sessions, please email your availability and CV to jo@jofong.com
www.jofong.com
Supported by Arts Council Wales, Sherman Cymru, Coreo Cymru and Chapter Arts Centre.

June 15, 2013
Open Process – Research Weekends
Two open weekends for professional dancers at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff.
20th and 21st July 2013
27th and 28th July 2013
The Audience. Open Process by Jo Fong.
Choreographer and director Jo Fong begins a new dance creation entitled The Audience.
To kick start the process Jo is inviting both professional performers to collaborate in its creation.
This research will look at how we communicate and create a dialogue, not only between the performers on stage, but also in the immediate interaction between the audience and the performers. Visual artist Heloise Godfrey will be documenting the work.
The Audience is an ever-evolving work, where the drama is in what is happening right now.
The sessions are free of charge starting with a contemporary class led by Jo then beginning the creative development of the piece with physical tasks and discussion.
If you are a professional dance or theatre performer and interested in taking part, please email your availability and CV to jo@jofong.com
The work will progress as a paid project for two performers with a staged showing of The Audience in 2014.
Supported by Arts Council Wales, Sherman Cymru, Coreo Cymru and Chapter Arts Centre.