R.I.T.E.

R.I.T.E. (Remember, I Transcend Existence) is a choreographic work in creation that explores the figures of Qi Ye and Ba Ye (七爺八爺), also known as Heibai Wuchang, the Black and White Impermanence, afterlife deities from Taiwanese folklore tasked with escorting the souls of the dead. The project draws on in-depth research into Ba Jia Jiang ritual processions: movement patterns, rhythms, collective dynamics and spatial organisation. The choreographic writing blends ritual walking, martial pulsations, off-balance and suspensions with a pared-down contemporary gestural vocabulary. The sound design hybridises physical modelling of traditional Bei Guan percussion with Moombahton aesthetics, while a video component confronts documentary footage shot in Taiwan with AI-generated sequences, borrowing from horror cinema. By transposing this folklore into a contemporary stage context, R.I.T.E. questions our collective relationship to devotion and communal rituals, and attempts to invent a new stage folklore.