忐忑 (apprehensive)

Director & Editor: Chang Liu 

Choreography & Dance: Marty Buhler 

Sounds Recordist: Nichele Van Portfleet & Geyu Weng 

Music: 忐忑 by Lingna Gong 

Instructor: Ellen Bromberg 

Shooting Location: Field House, Salt Lake City, US 

Produced in 2017 

Premiered at J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, US  

Concept: 

Set on an indoor sand court, 忐忑 (Apprehensive) features a lone figure in a surreal 3D panda mask—playful, lost, alert—moving through an unfamiliar terrain. The panda, a symbol of slowness and peace, becomes an unlikely guide through a frenetic soundscape composed by Gong Linna, whose famously wordless vocalizations mimic the rhythm of anxiety, urgency, and overload.  

This screendance work becomes a study in contrast: inner calm vs. outer chaos, tradition vs. hypermodernity, personal pace vs. societal acceleration. It mirrors the emotional and cultural dissonance felt amid China's rapid development, where a flood of change collides with the ancient desire for harmony.  

Through this humorous yet haunting visual language, 忐忑 probes the tension between appearance and essence, asking: how do we stay present when the world won’t wait?