“Ambiguity and change”
Melbourne Fringe Festival
In Green, In White — Metamorphosis of The White Snake
Weichen Cui
Sylvia Staehli Theatre
Joyce Liu
INTERLINK_SYSTEM — Transcend the human
Upstairs Studio
Wednesday 30th September, 2026
Dancehouse, Melbourne
On the Fringes, my response to In Green, In White and INTERLINK_SYSTEM, drawn up especially for Fjord Review.
Upon arrival, two tall screens reveal a kaleidoscopic, fluid slither of serpents, as I find a seat in the downstairs Sylvia Staehli Theatre at Danceshouse, for Weichen Cui’s In Green, In White — Metamorphosis of The White Snake, presented as part of Melbourne Fringe Festival 2026. A visual design work by Haocheng Zhang, colourful forms mutate and cluster, sliding from one shape into the next. Part viscous substance, part snake, the “ambiguity and change” signposted in the synopsis in this reinvention of “a well-known Chinese folklore recounting a story of love and revenge”[i] is already in play. An illuminated cluster of smooth egg-like forms appear, elongated and flexible; are they about to hatch or is this a detail upon the skin, magnified and exaggerated? In the puzzle, anything is possible, and by that means, of course the screens shed their digital skins and transform into translucent theatre windows for silhouettes.
With lights projected from behind, the paper screens are now ripe for shadow puppetry. Jiawen Feng materialises as a silhouette. With a pheasant’s long tail feather atop their crown, Feng plays with the suppleness inherent to the feather’s making. Feng curls the extension, and allows it to tickle the top of the frame, highlighting their confinement. In visual contrast to the upwards stroke, their long hair draws wriggly lines akin to ink on the page. Designed by Fengfeng Wang, the suggestion of the traditional costumes is beguiling. Transparent fabrics are alluded to as Feng slowly articulates the joints of their lower body. Seated to the side of the theatre, Feng’s barefoot momentarily breaks free, revealing the human form responsible for the silhouette, hinting at what might follow.
In the second hungry section of glowing light, “waiting to see what … might come to fill the vacancy”[ii], the form of choreographer Cui comes into view. Atop her crown, by contrast, a floral headdress makes a sphere of soft curves. Cui toys with making herself grow impossibly tall within the confines of the screen before reducing her silhouette to diminutive, all by proximity to light. The hypnotic effect of changing scale and focus reminds me of a magic lantern, as if someone has moved the focusing tube in and out. In the manner of a magic lantern, the further the form is from the screen “the larger but less distinct the images will appear. The closer, the smaller, the sharper.”[iii]. Cui’s presence remains, even in her absence, when coupled with flickering sound design by Monica Lim and Kai Luan. A dream state of weightlessness ensues, even when faced with a flurry of late comers admitted to the theatre. As a knot of figures hustle to find spare seats, unbeknownst to them, their profiles momentarily become an extension of the scene.
Cui and Feng wheel aside the screens to appear in beautiful, vivid colour, and I wonder how this revelation might feel to those who’ve just arrived. As the dancers “move between human and more-than-human, visibility, and opacity… [asking] how companionship and identity are influenced by cultural and social systems”[vi], this simple transfiguration into coloured particles now assembled before my eyes is beautiful. Through Chinese dance, embodied memory, and W_acking[v], to Cui, no matter which way you enter In Green, In White, it can be distilled to a timeless tale of “transformation, companionship, and becoming”[vi].
Later in the Upstairs Studio for Joyce Liu’s INTERLINK_SYSTEM — Transcend the human another type of metamorphisation and ceremony is underway, only this time, while still allowing the past to inform the present but through a reconfiguration of the pieces and in a different voice, the landscape is decidedly post-human. Plugged in, tethered by cables, Liu is interested in “investigat[ing] how spirituality persists, adapts, and re-emerges within cybernetic environments in [a] digitalised world”[vii]. Joined on stage by Alner Borce, Taichi Ishii, Ameli Piccini, and Umairah Murtaza, Liu lets feeling rip, where ties bind. Coming from a deep well of “pent up rage and grief”[viii], the body movements are violent and jarring. Liu tugs at the restrictions and unleashes a torrent of jackhammers upon the trance-like automatons.
Each dancer holds a small headlight in their mouths, ensuring both face and body are distorted, buckling and near choking under the strain of an explosion that while generated within was inflicted by a force beyond their control. Unearthing feelings within, by strobe and intensity, with lighting design by Joli Boardman and sound design by Aaron Tan, INTERLINK_SYSTEM’s distortions by turn reminds me that I am, by spirit and matter, of this Earth.
As I leave the Upstairs Studio, I catch my foot on one of two lights positioned on the pathway to the door. Narrowly avoiding the cable’s snare feels an apt extension.
[i] Weichen Cui’s In Green, In White — Metamorphosis of The White Snake synopsis, Dancehouse website, https://www.dancehouse.com.au/whats-on/in-green-in-white/, accessed 1st October, 2026.
[ii] Chloe Aridjis, The Shadow of the Object (London: Chatto & Windus, 2026), p. 70.
[iii] Directions for the use of a magic lantern from Chloe Aridjis, The Shadow of the Object (London: Chatto & Windus, 2026), p. 70.
[iv] Weichen Cui’s In Green, In White — Metamorphosis of The White Snake synopsis, Dancehouse website, https://www.dancehouse.com.au/whats-on/in-green-in-white/, accessed 1st October, 2026.
[v] “W_acking (Whacking/Waacking) is a culture that began in the underground gay clubs of Los Angeles and later spread across the globe.” W_acking Inferno Vol. 5, Dancehouse website, https://www.dancehouse.com.au/whats-on/w_acking-inferno-volume-5/, accessed 1st October, 2026.
[vi] Weichen Cui describing In Green, In White in three words, Dancehouse Instagram account, https://www.instagram.com/p/DdSvasxp27f/, accessed 1st October, 2026.
[vii] Joyce Liu INTERLINK_SYSTEM synopsis, Dancehouse website, https://www.dancehouse.com.au/whats-on/interlink_system/, accessed 1st October, 2026.
[viii] Joyce Liu, @ether_link Instagram account, https://www.instagram.com/p/DdYYhSwz66a/, accessed 1st October, 2026.
In Green, In White
Choreographer: Weichen Cui
Performers: Weichen Cui and Jiawen Feng
Sound Design: Monica Lim (special thanks to Yu-Tien Lin and Mindy Meng Wang) and Kai Luan
Lighting Design: Tom Vulcan
Visual Design: Haocheng Zhang
Costume Design: Fengfeng Wang
Set Construction: Ricardo Piscioneri (Urban Handyman)
Lighting Operator: Esther Li
Sound Operator: Tracey Chen
INTERLINK_SYSTEM
Director, Choreographer: Joyce Liu
Performers: Alner Borce, Taichi Ishii, Ameli Piccini, Umairah Murtaza & Joyce Liu
Lighting Design: Joli Boardman
Sound Design: Aaron Tan
Set Design: Joyce Liu
Assistance: Jeremy Leopando
Videography: Jessica Dang
Photography: Carlin Stephenson
Image credit: Weichen Cui and Jiawen Feng in In Green, In White — Metamorphosis of The White Snake, photographed by Urban Artistry
