In the Space Between Knowing and Becoming – Notes on an Artistic Collaboration Project

2.6.2026 0 Like 0 kommenttia

Cindy Ng is the first Southeast Asian student to study in the MA Choreography programme at the University of the Arts Helsinki. In the Artistic Collaboration Projects (ACO), she is interested in creating a transcultural dance performance that investigates a Malaysian traditional game, Congkak (mental calculation), as a vocabulary/choreographic tool.

The Artistic Collaboration Projects (ACO) brings together students from seven degree programmes across Uniarts Helsinki and Aalto University. Over five weeks, students engage in collaborative artistic processes centred on movement and choreography, culminating in performances of five original works presented during the final week of May. I was fortunate to work with 10 collaborators – the biggest collaborating group throughout the whole ACO group. I had 5 performers, 4 designers, and 1 dramaturge. We shared our artistic vision, practices, needs, and wants through open discussions, and all of them were aesthetically well-versed in what they do. The collaborative process was very rich and mind-opening. 

The Starting Point 

As a Southeast Asian who has worked with multiple artists from Asia, Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, and many more, I find it hard in the beginning to adapt to the working culture in Finland. It goes more slowly than I expected, and it allows me to witness the potentiality of creation during the process. I often create performances on a tight schedule since 2019. The shortest creation period towards a premiere was 3 days and the longest I had was 6 days. It sounds crazy and absurd, yet those experiences taught me to trust my pragmatic instincts and decisions. It cultivates me into a choreographer that can create different kinds of puzzled compositions together, like mathematics.  

My interest in games and rhythm sparks when I was working with a Costa Rican dance teacher named Zebastián Méndez Marín. His teaching methods were mostly about games, and it piqued my interest that his creation was never about games but thematics concepts in making a physical dance theatre performance. I started questioning: what kind of choreographer would I like to become? What is interesting to me in crafting a performance? And what is the meaning of creation making? Through the ACO process, I found some directions. I’m very much into games, rhythm, and compositional scores.  

In this ACO, I chose to look at my own cultural, traditional games – Congkak. It is a two-player board game where you must capture as many stones as possible at your home to be the winner. The rules are simple yet calculative. First pick up, then plant your stones one by one into the holes of the wooden game board. Count carefully where to start to be able to capture as much as possible in your home at the end. The 4 words in bold were the concept of playing Congkak, which was my prior research in creating Can’t get _ _ _ _ out of my head.  

Behind-the-scenes of the Making 

In the process, we were fortunate to receive 2 sponsorships that helped us with our limited budget. First was Eclipse Presas, a Spanish manufacturer of certified climbing holds. They offered us a discounted price if we would promote them on any social media platform. I wanted to have a bouldering pillar in Studio 4 and the moment when me and the scenographer decided on this, we were faced with many unforeseen worries from some of the supervising teachers and TTP (Support Services for Artistic Activities in Uniarts). It was the first time that someone had used the pillar in such a way at the academy, which motivates us to stand firmly with our decisions and desires.  

Viivi (my scenographer) and I were very anxious when the bouldering rocks didn’t arrive as scheduled. She and our stage manager, Eemeli, were planning a Plan B if everything didn’t turn up well, which put a lot of loads off my shoulders. I trusted them and focused on the choreography and other elements that need to be taken care of. Nevertheless, everything went aligned and the bouldering rocks arrived at TeaK. My performers had time to get used to the “new floor” before the premiere. 

Second sponsorship was from the Embassy of Malaysia in Helsinki. They were willing to provide karipap – a Malaysian finger food, on our premiere day for the working group and audiences and hands on congkak to play. They came to support our premiere and introduced 3 professors to witness the performance from the Faculty of Music at The MARA University of Technology (UiTM) that was visiting TeaK during the performance week. I received an award from them as a token of gratitude from my own country in Helsinki which was an overwhelming moment. I didn’t know how to react, but emotions came rushing in and the realization of a huge milestone I had just stepped in. I had left home for almost 12 years and started to bridge Malaysian performing arts scene with Europe performing arts scene 3 years ago. Today, it flourished and opened another door for me. 

“No worries.” “There’s still time.” are something I’ve said often towards my working group in the creation process. The pressure, stress, questions, and anxiety I’ve received from everyone in the group was very intense. As a director and/or leader of the group, I had to stand firmly for them. The words I said were a reminder and encouragement for them and especially myself. Every time there is a situation, I’ll always remind myself. Before they were my working group, they were someone’s child and human beings with emotions. Expressing concerns, anxiety, and vulnerability is normal and needed so we could support each other and make the process a beautiful memory. 

The working group has been working so well together. We construct and deconstruct the audience elevation together, paint Studio 4, learn bouldering with Eemeli, play games together, and often in a “heppuli” state that helps in the playground setting we are in.  The discussions and negotiations helped to  develop the production altogether. I was content to share the knowledge of my culture and intense physical bodily practice throughout the process. 

In the Space Between Knowing and Becoming 

Throughout the process, I questioned myself so many times. Did I make the right choice at the right moment? Until today, I would say I did. I know mistakes were made because I didn’t know how to handle them. I apologised, reflected, and moved on. My cohorts gave me so much support and understood what I went through. I’m really grateful to have them in my university life! We were so busy in our own group and could only bump into each other either at the start or at the end of the day. We have our own struggles and similarities, yet we pulled through it. The frustrations, facilitations, and the uncomfortable situations of not knowing taught me resilience and patience. Everything will work out the way it should be. Trust the process and embrace the unknown. 

Lastly, I’m so proud to have witnessed my cohorts’ ACO work and growth in this process. I could really see how our artistic practice has evolved after this process. We are different yet unique in our own way. Cheers for us and our future! 

Written by Cindy Ng