Hong Kong-born, New York-based dance artist Muna Tseng has made a name for herself over the years, developing a four decade-long illustrious career working at the fluid intersections of contemporary dance, visual design, new music and avant-garde theatre. In her work Me, You, Then, Now, which plays for one night only at the 2023 Singapore International Festival of Arts, audience members are invited to join her on a retrospective journey, tracing her artistry from her youth to present day.

Prior to its premiere in Singapore, we spoke to Muna about immigration, the state of Asian artists in the West, popularity, and introspection through retrospection. Read the interview in full below:

Bakchormeeboy: Even though it’s already the 4th installment of your Family Portraits series, what made you decide that it was time to craft and create a retrospective work of yourself at this point?

Muna: This portrait, Me, You, Then, Now evolved quite naturally. I realized there was a good story to tell while I was preparing my dance/performance archive (over 40 years of making work) for the Jerome Robbins Dance Collection at the Library of Performing Arts at Lincoln Center in New York. Questions emerge: Why did I become an artist? How do I maintain the passion to keep at this difficult profession for almost 5 decades? How do I find new and exciting ways of making art? How do I meld text, movement, video, sound into a visually and emotionally rich production? Usually a dancer’s career is over early but I’ve kept going, now into my 70 th year. So it’s time to tell my own story and challenge myself. This new “auto-portrait” is the 4th one in my FAMILY series, after portraits of my brother, mother, and grandfather. It’s autobiographical and retrospective, examining lineage and influences. I’m still seeking new ways to tell a story onstage, so it’s exciting.

Bakchormeeboy: We live in a time when Asians are now more visible, but what was it like getting your start in the Western world as an Asian artist in that era? Do you feel things have changed now that it’s 2023?

Muna: My parents raised me to believe I had a vital place in the world, a sense of belonging. So when we immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, even though it was traumatic for a 13 year old girl to be dropped into a foreign culture, I was lucky to find my place as a dancer. I was shy with words but I found my language in dance. Then when I moved to New York after university, I made a place for myself there with confidence. Perhaps I ignored any racism with a delusional sense of belonging, but it was useful because I did not let it stop me from pursuing my goal.

The world is changing, and in 2023, we Asians have more voice and presence in the institutional art world. So now, as a mature artist, I have something to say about the journey of devoting a whole lifetime to my craft, using the knowledge and experience from my geographical migrations seeded by my ancestral and genetic strands. I’m proud and grateful of my cultural inheritance. I am taking my space as a 70 year old Chinese-American woman artist from Hong Kong/Vancouver/ New York on an international stage in Singapore.

Bakchormeeboy: At what point in your life did you decide that becoming a dancer was your destiny and career? Were there ever doubts at any point that you’d made a wrong decision? What kept you going?

Muna: I already knew I would become an artist at age 13. Over the years, I have gained confidence, skill, craft and belief in myself. I trust my ideas more. It thrills me to keep working. When new ideas arrive, I am inspired. I trust this will continue into my “golden age”. There is no “old” artist, because artists either stay fresh and young in their minds, or they drop out. I remember creative sparks flew fast and wild in my younger days. I was willing to experiment, expend, and exhaust myself at every opportunity. Now I wait and process an idea to see if it’s worth the time, effort and investment. It takes a lot to make a new work, so I am a lot more selective now that I know more. I have always been inspired by all the amazing artists I have crossed paths with in New York. That was the reason I came here in 1978 and never left. Over the years, I was fortunate to have met some of our most seminal artists.

An artist must find, develop and sustain a matrix of support in order to persevere and endure. All these incredible artists, mentors and colleagues have inspired me and taught me discipline, professionalism, tradition, obsession, creativity, endurance, romanticism, kindness, grace, grit, trust, power and self-determination.

For this current project, I’d like to acknowledge my amazing creative team: Iréne Hultman, my choreographic articulator, is a brilliant dance artist herself with an esteemed history with Trisha Brown Dance Company. Ain Gordon, my dramaturg, a talented, noted theater director, playwright and actor who comes from the New York downtown theater/performance “royalty” lineage. Thomas Dunn, one of the most talented theatrical lighting designers in the NYC theater and dance world today, and James Lo, one the most in demand sound designers with NYC choreographers today. They are all on the cutting edge of making new work, both experienced and inspirational. I am thrilled to be working with them.

Bakchormeeboy: Is recognition in the form of popularity or critical acclaim important to you as an artist? Would you say that it’s important for any artist, especially when it comes to platforming their artistry or garnering financial support?

Muna: Getting recognition early on is a boost. Accolades in the press, receiving honors, grants, awards gives one confidence and a sense of accomplishment. The process of discovery and developing a work is the most interesting part to me. Popularity and acclaim have never played much of a role in my creative process. To me, the satisfaction is in making the work, as is the interaction with the audience, which has its own surprises and rewards. Over the course of a long career, there will always be hills to climb and valleys to fall into. With the cost of living these days it is difficult to say that financial support does not matter, but artists will remain on the journey no matter what.

Bakchormeeboy: What would you say being an artist means to you, and why do you persist in making art?

Muna: Art is a way of life. Being an artist is my way of contributing to the world, leaving my little mark the way I know how. If I communicate to one person in the audience, or when I find meaningful connection with my team during our creative process, it is a richness and reward beyond words. Art changes one in a profound way, it can be seismic on our individual consciousness, it can even shift the world. Art makes life meaningful. Artists should be considered cultural treasures by our “enlightened” societies, and until they are, we must persist. We are truly irreplaceable.

Bakchormeeboy: How does this work tie back to SIFA’s theme of Some People?

Muna: I hope this work resonates to the Singapore audience, to “Some People”, to reach their hearts and make them think and reflect as well. My art is not a popular sport or commercial dance, it is personal and universal in a humanistic way. Person to person: Me, You, Then, Now.

Me, You, Then Now plays for one night only on 27th May 2023 at the Victoria Theatre. Tickets available here

The 2023 Singapore International Festival of Arts runs from 19th May to 4th June 2023. Tickets and full details of programme available here