Alex Mah’s birdcage explores identity, family, and migration at EDAM, September 3 to 5

Part of the Pi Provocateurs Performing Arts Series, the new work finds the Vancouver interdisciplinary artist performing with violinist Ilana Waniuk

Alex Mah and Ilana Waniuk in *birdcage*. Photo by Luciana Freire D’Anunciação

EDAM and Pi Theatre present birdcage at EDAM September 3 to 5

NOT TO BE mistaken for the Mike Nichols film The Birdcage (or La Cage Aux Folles, the French farce that 1996 movie was based on), this birdcage is a new original work produced by interdisciplinary performing artist, composer-musician, and dancer Alex Mah.

Mah’s birdcage is the Vancouver-based artist’s introspective work exploring his mixed-race identity and reflecting on family, migration, and memory through movement, text, music, and lantern light.

Mah performs birdcage with violinist Ilana Waniuk. Off the stage, the artistic team comprises first- and second-generation Canadians, including movement consultant Natalie Gan, costume designer elika mojtabaei, lighting designer Jonathan Kim, technical director Gillian Hanemayer, and stage manager Agnes Hui.

A copresentation of EDAM (Experimental Dance and Music) and Pi Theatre, birdcage is part of the Pi Provocateurs Performing Arts Series, which has previously presented works including puppeteer Ingrid Hansen’s Epidermis Circus, Munish Sharma’s Danceboy, and the surreal fever dream of Untitled Peter Tripp Project.

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John Lucas

John Lucas has covered music and the arts for longer than he cares to think about. He can also be found playing his guitar in dodgy rehearsal spaces and low-rent venues in and around Vancouver.

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