Tangram x LSO: Bound/Unbound

Growing up with bound feet in the feudal Qing Dynasty, Afong Moy in 1834 became the first Chinese woman to be brought to America, where she was displayed before the public as a ‘Chinese Curiosity’. Half a century later, Qiu Jin, a young revolutionary, challenged the stifling Manchu culture and changed the fate of women by unbinding her feet and taking up the art of sword fighting. Poet, author of manifestos, and leader of a revolutionary community, Qiu Jin was determined to save her country from the corrupt Qing government. These two women, bound and unbound, together compose a symphonic dance, a protest against the world of patriarchy into which they were born.