Filter / Black
Double Bill with ‘Filter’ by Gunika Aniva and ‘Black’ by Oulouy
A Double Bill about Body, Memory, and Resistance
Two choreographic voices, two embodied narratives — FILTER by Gunika Aniva and BLACK by Oulouy meet in an evening that places questions of identity, perception, and belonging at its core. Both works explore the body as an archive of experience and history — a medium that reveals social structures as much as it reflects personal transformation.
Filter
“FILTER” is a contemporary dance piece by choreographer Gunika Aniva that explores the tensions between individuality, imitation, and perception in our society. What does self-expression mean when it is shaped by social and cultural “filters”?
The work understands the “filter” not only as an external limitation, but also as a trace of memory — a sediment of experiences, gestures, and collective images that continue to live within the body. Through minimalist yet intense movements, the piece interweaves personal and cultural memories — particularly from the artist’s Uyghur heritage — into a physical narrative oscillating between vulnerability and resilience.
Thus emerges a space of stillness, reflection, and transformation, where identity is not defined but made visible — fleeting, contradictory, real.
Concept & Choreography: Gunika Aniva
Music: Abudouaini Yimiti
Lighting Design: Xie Sihan
Performer: Wang Shuhuan
Duration: 40 minutes
Gunika Aniva
Independent Creator / Practitioner of Body and Performance Art
Born in Urumqi, Xinjiang, and currently based in Shanghai, Gunika Aniva is an independent artist working at the intersection of body, performance, and moving image. Guided by intuition and close observation, her practice investigates the undercurrents between personal experience and social structures—particularly the act of watching itself, and how bodily language is formed and distorted under the gaze.
In recent years, she has participated in numerous cross-disciplinary art projects and theater productions, spanning physical theater, performance art, and video.
Selected performance credits include Sleep No More (Shanghai), Nian Hua, Twenty-Four Solar Terms, Qing Yi, Shambhala, OUVERTURE, Dance of the Folk, and Something Not Right.
Theatrical performances include NAWAL, Sugar Daddy, and Who Will Daisy Marry Tonight?
Performance art works include All That Is Solid Melts into Air, Watching, and Overwhelming Love for You.
Her video work Wu was featured in the Ork_Kota section of Hungary’s SzólóDuó International Dance Festival, and Six People was selected for the Berlin–Tanzania International Film Festival.
Gunika’s practice continually seeks breathing space between resisting definition and necessary response. Through her work, she examines how the body is shaped by aesthetic systems and social frameworks, using this tension as a starting point to unravel perceptual chains of seeing, imitation, and the internalization of identity.
Wang shuhuan
Dancer / Choreographer
Wang Shuhuan is a dancer and choreographer based in Shanghai. She received her training in Chinese dance at the Shanghai Theatre Academy Affiliated Dance School (2013–2019) and later earned her degree in dance choreography from the Shanghai Theatre Academy (2019–2023).
Her practice bridges traditional and contemporary forms, exploring the body as a site of memory, emotion, and transformation. She has participated in numerous contemporary dance and performance projects, including Umbilical Cord (with artist Xiao Ke, invited by the Hong Kong Arts Festival) and Youyou Vision (commissioned by the Shanghai International Dance Center Theater).
Recent works include Sooner or Later It Will Be Over (Stray Birds Dance Platform, China Youth Dance Talent Program) and Bang, and Other Detail (selected for the MASDANZA Festival and the Greater Bay Area Dance Festival). She also collaborated with director Yehezikir Lazarov on the Shanghai Cultural Square production of The Superfluous Man.
Black
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Black is a reflection on the violence and emancipation of blackness in today’s world, through a body that challenges and disturbs, a body that is both wounded and celebrated. Using a set devoid of artifice and brimming with symbolism, choreographer and performer Oulouy hints at recent history such as the #Bla- ckLivesMatter movement and the murder of George Floyd to rethink the Black African body in the Western world. Black is a dance, a visual and musical chronicle, narrated through street dance styles of the African continent and its diaspora in the USA, such as Coupé-Décalé, Ndomboló, Afrohouse or Krump.
Choreography and performance: Oulouy
Produced and distributed: by Africa Moment
Duration: 30 minutes
Oulouy
Born on the Ivory Coast and based in Spain, Oulouy combines his role as choreographer, dancer and artistic director with teaching masterclasses worldwide. His first work ‘Black’ (2020) is a reflection on violence and the emancipation of black bodies in contemporary societies. Accompanied on stage by his international crew of Supa Rich Kids, ‘Afrikan Party’ (2022) is a futuristic ode to Africa. And his most recent work is ‘Kong’ (2024). His stage works have been presented internationally in venues such as Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York, Bluma Appel in Toronto, Fabrik Potsdam in Germany, Dansens Hus Oslo, Mercat de les Flors, Teatro Principal de Palma, Journées Théâtrales de Carthage, Suzanne Dellal Centre, Dampfzentrale, among others. ‘Black’ was selected for the Danza a Escena 2024 catalogue to tour within Spain –Oulouy actually one of the first choreographers to present their work within this network. ‘Afrikan Party’ received the Best Choreography award of the Catalan Performing Arts Critics Awards (2023), and this work has also been included in the choreographic archive of the New York Public Library. Oulouy is also the founder and curator of the festival Oyofe dedicated to street dances. Oulouy has been selected as an Aerowaves25 artist this year with his piece ‘Black’.
Currently there are no upcoming performances of this Program.
