When someone or something exits a space, the space does not return to what it once was, but rather a negative state—defined by the absence of something that was once there.

In Texture of Absence, two dancers explore the physical manifestation of absence to examine how humans experience loss. Drawing from their relationships with identity, memory, and people, Yih and Feng retrace the multi-layered and multi-generational impacts of loss, uncovering the confusion, turmoil, and unexpected beauty that arrive in its wake.

Texture of Absence uses dance with real-time interactive audio to create a soundscape that morphs with the dancers’ movement, assigning an auditory texture to absence.

At times magical, confounding, and sombre, the performance work invites the audience to absorb the concept of absence as owning a surreal visual and sonic world. In a social milieu fraught with loss of various forms—loss of identity, belonging, life—Texture of Absence is a quiet ode to the complexity of loss.

Carmen Yih was a successful applicant for the Platform Arts Performance EOI and will premiere Texture of Absence in the Performance Space with collaborator Jiawen Feng in 2025.

Photo by Cobie Orger