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Index 09 / 12

Visual Index 09 / Shanghai

Five Hours in Another Dynasty

Costume, performance, food, and light transform an afternoon into an encounter with cultural invention.

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Alicia Dai in vermilion Song-dynasty styling among white blossoms
Shanghai / Personal archive / 2024
09Alicia Dai Visual IndexShanghai

Costume, performance, food, and light transform an afternoon into an encounter with cultural invention.

The experience began in late afternoon with costume and makeup and ended five hours later. Between those points came theatre, music, projected imagery, dining, and a procession of historical references remade for a contemporary room.

Alicia did not arrive as a devotee of traditional styling. That made the surprise more complete. She was drawn to the confidence of the production—its visual discipline, performance energy, and refusal to treat culture as something static. The vermilion portrait belongs to that transformation, suspended between role and self.

Tradition becomes vivid when invention enters the room.
From Alicia Dai's personal archiveEdited from creator-authored notes
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