Jo Fong
Jo lives in Wales and her creative work reflects the need in these times for people to come together. Her artistic practice is an evolving, collaborative approach which puts ideas around belonging or forming community in the forefront.
Jo has been dancing, performing and making for 35 years, beginning her career with Rosas, Rambert and DV8 Physical Theatre. Some memorable moments include Wallflower with Quarantine Theatre, Movement Direction for Le Vin Herbe with Welsh National Opera, dancing in and contributing to the re-staging of Nigel Charnock’s Lunatic for National Dance Company Wales and creating English with National Theatre Wales. Jo regularly facilitates for community arts open studio events and workshops throughout the UK and further a field.
Recent performances and events; Ways of Being Together, Neither Here Nor There, To Tell You the Truth, Our Land! What Will People Need? Nettles: How to Disagree? and The Sun’s Come Out created in collaboration with artist Sonia Hughes. A Brief History of Difference with Das Clarks, Marathon of Intimacies with artist Anushiye Yarnell, Jo contributed to Luke Hereford’s drag performance Grandmother’s Closet at the Wales Millennium Centre and she is currently touring The Rest of Our Lives created with clown and circus director George Orange.
And initiating the epic How Shall We begin Again? which was created and performed by 50 people in a 16 hour performance on the Donald Gordon Stage at WMC in February 2023. Wales' artists, facilitators, actors, directors, writers, circus folk and people at the very beginning of forming relationship with their bodies took to the stage. How Shall We Begin Again? holds a space between portraiture, protest and something like a prayer. On its simplest level it’s about how we reconnect with ourselves, our bodies and each other.
Since initiating Ways of Being Together, the practise has evolved into an artist-led community, creating space and time to reconnect, repair, replenish and explore performance making and co-creation. The annual convergence is layered, centring learning, support, co-mentoring and actioning change.
