Mountains and Seas 山海 · 今日之歌

2025

Performance still from Mountains and Seas: Song of Today  (2025). Theatre artist Fan Jiayi crouches on a darkened  stage in white costume, hands pressed to her head,  surrounded by diagonal beams of blue-white light  and sculptural dark columns

Mountains and Seas – Song of Today is an interdisciplinary performance inspired by the 4th-century BCE text The Classic of Mountains and Seas.

Combining poetry, movement, music and visual design, the work draws on ancient mythological imagery to reflect on contemporary global concerns, including climate crisis, displacement and political uncertainty.

Through layered storytelling and immersive stagecraft, the performance connects past cosmologies with present realities, inviting audiences to consider how inherited narratives continue to shape cultural memory, collective identity and our understanding of the world today.

Cast & Creative Team:

Xie Rong — Performer & Art Director

Daniel York Loh — Writer, Musician (guitar, harmonica) & Performer

Beibei Wang — Percussion / Composer

Jennifer Lim — Narrator & Performer

Tash Tung — Dancer & Performer

Fan Jiayi — Dancer & Performer

Chen Yu Xiao — Xun/Xiao (Chinese flutes)

He Song Yuan — Beijing Opera vocals, Percussion & Performer

Design Collaborators:

Yiran Duan (Yi Craft Studio) — Costumes & Jewellery

Danni Zheng & Ao Lei — Lighting, Visuals & Set Design

Photography and Videography:

Jamie Baker, Mike Skelton and Willow Hazell