Past Performances
Live@CIRMMT, Montreal, Quebec (2023)
IRCAM Forum, Paris, France (2022)
Txaranga Bakalari, Montreal, Quebec (2021)
Glass Box Theatre, New York, NY (2021)
Creators
Kalun Leung (Performance, Composition)
Bettina Szabo (Choreography)
Travis West (Instrument Design)
Program Note
Garcia is the middle name of my childhood nanny who helped take care of me from birth to age 4. The single digit years of a human life are so formative and foundational, but it is often this decade that is most easily forgotten.
When Jackie found me on Facebook in 2020 during a time of intense identity reckoning that was brought on by COVID-19 among other challenges, I saw it as a fascinating opportunity to uncover my past through her memories. What was I like? Was I a brat?
This piece is inspired by this process of uncovering memories through others and through self-discovery. Having immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong at age 4 with only one memory from this time, reconnecting with my nanny was a way for me to reconstruct how I navigated immigration and assimilation as a child, and to ascertain why I am the way I am.
Sounds are recorded, triggered and manipulated via this memory "sound palette" that is represented by the space around the performer, and the trombone is used as a memory logger and jogger, stylized by the performer's movements.