Activities

Following the exceptional critical acclaim of its debut in 2025, Beijing’s TAO Dance Theatre returned to ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival for a new series of performances. Between 20 and 26 July 2026, the company presented the double bills 13 | 14 at Volkstheater and 16 | 18 at the Burgtheater, pairing the acclaimed 16 with the world premiere of 18, the latest work in Tao Ye’s celebrated Numerical Series and a co-production with ImPulsTanz.

As part of the festival’s public programme, Fabrizio Massini moderated an Artist Talk with choreographer and artistic director Tao Ye. The conversation explored TAO Dance Theatre’s artistic practice, the evolution of their Numerical Series, and the company’s approach to choreography, offering the audience further insight into one of the most influential voices in contemporary dance.

Further information on the performances is available on the festival website: https://www.impulstanz.com/en/performances/pid1888/

On 24 June 2026, Rossella Ferrari gave an invited lecture titled “The Chinese Life of Gregor Samsa: The Metamorphosis and Other Imaginations of the Future in Contemporary Chinese Theatre“ at the China Institute of Goethe University Frankfurt.

In July 2026, Ting Zhang presented her paper “Double Coding the Past: Dramaturgical Strategies of The Nine in Contemporary China” at the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) World Congress at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and at the Asian Humanities Today (ASAH) Conference at the University of Sydney, Australia.

In November 2026, Yizhuo Li will present her paper “A Certain Correctness: Miao Ying’s Pilgrimage into Walden XII” at the 31st International Symposium on Electronic/Emerging Art (ISEA) in Dubai.

Rossella Ferrari was interviewed by the Austrian newspaper Die Presse about the project. A feature article by Cornelia Grobner about Ferrari’s latest research was published in print and online on 28 February 2026.

On 27 February 2026, Rossella Ferrari gave an invited lecture titled “The Future is (the Past of) a Foreign Country: Envisioning Futurity Through Adaptation in Postmillennial Chinese Theatre“ at the School of Chinese of the University of Hong Kong (HKU).

On 11 December 2025, Rossella Ferrari was invited by Kunsthalle Wien for a lecture and conversation titled “Transition and Transformation: Contextualizing Art and Culture in Postsocialist China“. The lecture was part of a public programme connected to the exhibition Teenager by Chinese visual artist Guan Xiao. 

Between 20-23 November 2025, Fabrizio Massini attended the 2nd Qiandeng Lake Fringe Festival in Foshan, China, as an invited guest and observer. On November 21, he participated in a round-table discussion titled “Watching Theatre Festivals All Over the World”.

On 8 December 2025, Rossella Ferrari delivered an invited presentation titled “Performance and Postsocialism in Postmillennial China” at the International Colloquium “Contemporary Chinese Drama” at the Center for Studies in Theatrical Staging and Dramatic Writing, Santa Catarina Federal University (NEEDRAM/UFSC), Brazil