bull in a china closet: excerpts

elle hong

Bull in a China Closet is a dance film that highlights the artist’s attempts at portraying a deeply layered, queer identity. Combining dance/performance, text, and cinéma vérité, elle demonstrates the tension and confusion of a trans person working to exteriorize their interiority, or, working to create an outward-facing image that more closely resembles the image they envision for/of themself. In Bull in a China Closet, elle attempts to give the full fantasy of her idealized gender archetypes, while leaving space to contemplate the process of creating new genders, and ultimately, new worlds.

In these two excerpts from Bull in a China Closet, elle wears largely thrifted/gifted clothing items with the exception of white gogo boots from Unique Vintage, and a green sock-bustier dress crafted by queer designer YARD666SALE. These garments contribute towards a somatic costuming, or, a technique that relies on how embodiment changes dependent on the costume worn by the dancer.

audio descriptions & transcript

A white runway appears on a dance stage. A figure in front of a clothing rack is standing at the back. 

They start to strut forward. 

Lighting reveals elle hong,  a blonde east Asian trans dancer, walks to the front of the screen. She’s wearing a faux fur coat, a black and white striped mod dress and white go-go boots. 

They pull the coat down to reveal their shoulders, turn to the back and strut. They turn to the front, strut down the catwalk slowly, then faster. 

She stops mid-runway to pose. She claps her hands in time with the beat above her head. She begins to sassy catwalk, vogue hands swirling around her face. She turns her back on us to walk to the back of the runway.

The leg passé’s over with side arch.

Spiral step. 

They walk forward and pose with one arm up and one arm to the side. They slowly turn without breaking the pose. 

She starts vogue hand performance again, pantomiming a compact and putting on makeup. She goes into tutting type moves, 

pointing twirling fingers.

Back it up

Back wrap, back wrap 

Parallel passé

Hair flip and spin

Spiral turn

Walk back 

Lifting hair up 

Duck walk with head flip up to the beat

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic poses 

Hand flips up and down 

Hip left right

Step side touch

Dramatic reach out and in

Chassé chassé 

Double beat sink 

Running in place 

(Energy builds) 

Hand performance 

Squat with body roll up 

Soutenu turn with opposing spiraling arms 

Attitude, kick back 

Strut strut fade out 

(Outfit change and lighting change)

Pink lighting 

Burnt orange and black letterman’s jacket style faux fur coat with a knit green colorblocked dress under 

Dramatically remove hood

Turn and discard coat

Start tap dancing to the music 

Camera reveals they are wearing beige character tap shoes 

Grapevine off the runway 

And come back to do the same hands performance pantomiming a compact and doing makeup as before

Chaînès turns and spinning to the end of the runway

Step shuffle hop step turning back to the front

Spin and lose steam

Stoic pause hands on hips 

Magically a fabric covered platform slides in. 

They sit.

Cut to laying on platform while it spins with one leg crossed over knee.

Cut to pose upside down one leg pointed up into air with left foot scissor kicked forward on spinning platform 

Cut to standing posed on spinning platform 

Sexy reclined vamping pose on spinning platform 

Get up and walk off stage while fades to new look and green lighting 

Barefoot dark blue velour with green cast under lights. Oversized hoodie looking menacingly possessed with hair now messy and half put up and distressed rash-like makeup with dirty lips. 

Repeat pantomiming vogue hand performance but more intensely 

Hair in face 

Whipped spiral turn 

Flash warning starts

Repeated attitude flailing spiral turns 

In wild energetic manner so that the hoodie whips through the air sometimes revealing mint briefs

Down runway 

Up and off runway 

Walk back to center 

Cup back of head, 2 body rolls

And turn to walk back 

2 body rolls, pivot 

Walk up runway 

2 body rolls pivot 

Back down runway 

2 body rolls pivot step 

Pose hand to stomach and face 

2 hip beats with contraction

Rhythmically collapsing in phases 

Until final slumped position 

Fade to back 

(Flash warning ends)

Camera follows rick backstage to green room 

They sit in front of makeup mirrors with scattered makeup all around.

Pull off false eyelashes 

Takes a makeup pad and wipes off makeup 

(Speaking) 

Stares at self in mirrors 

Fade to black

Elle wearing a pink satin spaghetti strap dress laying on a black Marley dance floor

Slow rise to sitting 

Turn to pensive sitting position 

Looks into the light and rises

Breathes 

Pulls skirt of dress up in front of face 

While slowly turns 

Camera pans around them.

Drop skirt down into chaînès turn 

One chaînès circle body arch 

Side attitude strike 

Jump fall and release

Front attitude 

Passé down

Roundhouse kick with jump and turn

Glide step 

Chaînès turns with “S”-shaped arms 

Arch back to floor 

Turn to fall forward to ground

Pull back through child’s pose 

Impressive body wave to standing from the floor 

Glide steps

Crouching running step with side swoop pushing air

Spiral turn 

Back hitchkick 

Land 

Walk back arm raises and gently falls in response 

Jetè spiral turn 

Grand battement with opposite arm reaching 

Spiral down to the floor 

Twisted frog kick turning back 

Attitude kick turning back 

Arch up to stand 

Glide step arms to the sky 

Spiral turn 

Run diagonal towards center stage 

Scoop step 

Elbow jab back 

Chassé jump turn 

Butterfly kick twirl 

Chaînès arms bent at side 

Collapse down 

Breathing heavily collapsed on floor 

Crawl towards center stage

Collapse into fetal position 

Continue to Crawl

Sustained crawling head down hair brushing ground 

Fade to black

about the artist

elle hong (they/she) is an anti-disciplinary artist, writer, and educator from the occupied lands of Kanaka `Ōiwi (Honolulu, HI). Currently based in Cheyenne/Ute/Arapaho Territories (Boulder, CO), they received their MFA in Choreography from the University of Colorado Boulder with a graduate certificate in Emergent Technologies & Media Arts Practice. Her work spans through dance, media arts, writing, music, and pedagogy - often bricolaging them into performance. elle is invested in the potentials for decolonization, queering, and world reimagining made possible through the container of performing/visual arts. elle has worked with and studied beneath noted dance makers/scholars including Michelle Ellsworth, Rennie Harris, Darrell Jones, Katja Kolcio, Bebe Miller, Eiko Otake, Nicole Stanton, and Helanius Wilkins. Through written and embodied forms of creative research, elle calls for a dismantling of the systems that enforce control over our abilities to liberate our social bodies.