Winchester Street Theatre
80 Winchester Street
Co-presented with Fall for Dance North in partnership with TO Live as part of the International Presenters Program
Eyes Wide Open
Naishi Wang
Working with the question, “How to continue?” Eyes Wide Open creates a condition of continuation, where change and unchange exist at the same time.
Through the ongoing return of movement, the body repeats while attention begins to drift. As the action continues, perception shifts—something may be lost, and something may be gained. The dancers move in unison, while their experiences diverge.
Within this condition, the work traces a fragile human state between holding on and letting go. Through repetition, softness, and endurance, persistence gradually becomes a form of soft resistance – a way of continuing without force, where simply remaining, changing, and continuing can become an act of resistance.
Premiere
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Meet the Artists
Photo: Hans Michael Lenz
Naishi Wang
Choreographer / Performer
Naishi Wang is a Chinese-born, Toronto-based choreographer, performer, and Artistic Director of Naishi Dance. He is also an associated artist at Xing Dance Studio, an artist-run space in Toronto’s Chinatown. Wang’s interdisciplinary practice begins with the body as a place of sensing, communication, transformation, and continuation. Drawing from contemporary arts, folk dance, Chinese classical movement, martial arts, qigong, calligraphy, somatic approaches, and visual structures, his current practice considers states of entrapment – encounters with limits, uncertainty, or conditions that cannot simply be moved beyond – and asks: how to continue?
Read more +His works include Taking Breath (2018), Face To Face (2022), Deciphers (2024), and Eyes Wide Open (2026), an ensemble work examining surveillance, visibility, and emotionally observed bodies. Wang’s work has been presented across Canada and internationally by Festival TransAmériques, PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, the National Arts Centre, Harbourfront Centre, Tanzmesse NRW, Schrittmacher Festival, Tanz Ist, Sophienstraße, Monsun Theater, The Coronet Theatre, Dance City, Birmingham Hippodrome and Brighton Dome, among others. Across his practice, Wang approaches choreography by tuning inward as a way of reimagining the world we continue to inhabit, bit by bit.
Show Credits
Concept: Naishi Wang and Ivy Wang
Choreography: Naishi Wang in collaboration with dancers
Performed by: Clarke Blair, Jessica Mak, Lukas Malkowski and Naishi Wang
Music: Antoine Berthiaume
Musician – Voice: Len Torrie
Musician – Drum: Manuel di Camillo
Lighting Design: Lucie Bazzo
Costume Design: Adam X Atelier
Structure and Visual Design: Ivy Wang
Dramaturgical Advice: Guy Cools
Rehearsal Director: Xing Bang Fu
Producers: Kevin Matthew Wong and Naishi Wang Dance Company
Production Manager: A. J. Morra
Technical Director: Curtis Whittaker
Stage Manager: Taylor Zalik-Young
Administrative Support: Juliette Coleman
Understudy: Jasmine Melrose
Artist Notes
Eyes Wide Open was developed with the support from: TO Live, Citadel + Compagnie, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Xing Dance Studio, National Ballet of Canada’s Creative Action and Laboratory for Artistic Intelligence.
Special thanks to the dance artists who have contributed to the work: Katherine Semchuk, Miyeko Ferguson, Sonja Boretski, Ann Trepanier and Judy Luo.