Live Stage: Tank Man Tango [online]
TANK MAN TANGO Documentation
Tank Man Tango is a networked performance commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre (China), June 4, 1989. Dancing bodies will be streamed live from Auckland, Hobart, Brisbane, Singapore, Belgrade, Brussels, Paris/ Dunkerque, Richmond… 9:00 am, 12:00 pm, 6:00 pm (Belgian time).
If you’d like to watch, please contact suzon [at] finart.be
From the Call for Participation: June 4 is the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Be part of a memorial made of dancing bodies in cities around the world — use this video (also available in Cantonese, German, Mandarin, and soon Spanish) to learn a dance based on the steps of tank man, who faced off the tanks in 1989 and became a symbol of courage against tyranny.
How to Dance it:
Tank Man Tango, by Deborah Kelly, features Teik Kim Pok dancing choreography by Jane McKernan in a video made by Sven Simulacrum.
helen
jo
![[meme.garden] (2006)](http://turbulence.org/index_files/meme.jpg)
4 Responses
Strong idea, significant issue, great video, though very literal translation of the subject.
I would like to comment that it takes two people to tango. In my view, tango is an expression of connection and compassion for each other. ‘Tango Man Tango’ may sound snappy but sounds inappropriate to me.
Please consider http://www.tangocommute.com/, which will be ‘performed’ by social dancers on days of national division.
Amnesty is organzing the Tankman Tango in front of the Chinese Embassy on 4th June from 10.30 — 11.30.
Deborah Kelly wrote:
Dear Jo,
thanks very much for issuing the call from Turbulence.org
I’m writing to let you know that on 4 June 2009, people in 20 cities (that I know of) made the Tiananmen memorial using the Tank Man Tango. There are some traces online:
This London online-TV one has beautiful footage of some of the 70-ish people who danced the memorial in Sydney (& poor interview with me):
http://www.babelgum.com/html/clip.php?clipId=3020413
Here it is in Singapore, at the Substation:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raisondetre/sets/72157619666974881/
Here is a group doing it on the news in Tucson, Arizona (click on the video icon):
http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=10482853
These people in Brussels are part of Amnesty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdGQJnBgC1k
But these completely unrelated OTHER people in Brussels are not:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ3hNopi9IU
Some people making the dancing vigil in Bristol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i569iMX7cBc
In Weimar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C0_b9QRVp4
And Erfurt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4OqBrzcCyg
In Leipzig:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUuFwOX1FAc
A town I have not heard of, Beilefeld:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPS5dtyz2Yc
On stage in Philadelphia:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/48139587.html
And finally, streaming from Auckland, Hobart, Brisbane, Singapore, Belgrade, Dunkerque, Brussels, and Richmond, Virginia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2CXW2Z0WYo
best wishes
from Deborah
p.s. and then there are these people in Athens making a… rockstar version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4At4RlvjJ0
[...] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989 http://turbulence.org/blog/2009/06/03/live-stage-tank-man-tango-online/ [...]