Like Water, Like Clouds
SENAIDA's Performance
"Like Water, Like Clouds" is an improvised audiovisual ritual that invites audiences to experience softness as a radical act through the cultivation and expression of Qigong (气功).
In our fast-paced and dissociative reality, "Like Water, Like Clouds" offers a transformative encounter with softness in all its forms. Softness, as defined by Annika Hansteen-Izora, is the practice of holding deep, slow, and intentional presence with the bodymind, and our collective bodyminds. The core of this project engages in the exploration of how softness can potentially be embodied in interaction and performance design, and how sound can serve as an integral space within physical and social architectures. Using a custom-designed paintbrush instrument, which translates the fluid gestures of Chinese calligraphy into a richly-textured spatial sonic landscape, this performance aims to dissolve the traditional divide between visual art and music.
For the North American premiere of this work, SENAIDA invites Kanami Kusajima (“Let Hair Down”), a dancer, choreographer and performance artist who combines live painting and improvisational dance through street performance. Kusajima can often be found performing in Washington Square Park, and was an inspiring figure in the conception of this work. By engaging in Buddhist meditation practices and drawing from Pauline Oliveros’ deep listening practices, softness becomes a conscious, collective practice. Through this improvisational dialogue, the work becomes a living temple — one that encourages a return to gentle attentiveness amidst the pressures and fragmentation of contemporary life.
Artist: Senaida Ng, Kanami Kusajima
SENAIDA (pronounced “shuh-nay-duh”) is a Hakka Chinese-Canadian transdisciplinary artist, sound architect, curator, and international dj. Their work explores the intersections of sonic cyberfeminism, posthumanism, generative art and sustainability to create collective experiences through sound. As the founder and resident dj of WE ARE THE FUTURE!, an underground interdisciplinary collective, label and event series, SENAIDA brings innovation to the forefront. A former resident DJ at the legendary NYC venue, XPIZZA, until it closed in 2024, and current host of “Zeros + Ones” on Subtle Radio, their eclectic and spellbinding mixes can be heard on Refuge Worldwide, FrittoFM, No Signal, Reform Radio, NOH Radio, Snatchers and HKCR.
A classically-trained pianist at the Royal Conservatory of Music and self-taught producer, SENAIDA quickly transitioned into the NYC underground electronic scene as a dj after spending a semester abroad in Berlin in 2022. After only a few months, they were invited to play at New York Fashion Week, PopCon, and have toured worldwide playing shows in New York City, Berlin, Athens, Bogotá, Toronto, Hong Kong, Milan and Istanbul. Their live dj sets captivate audiences, embodying the ritualistic spirit of being a “shaman of the dancefloor.” In December 2024, SENAIDA released their debut album, KUNST KAPUTT, the world’s first participatory generative-AI album, which was featured in Mixmag Asia.
SENAIDA is a graduate of NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and the ITP/IMA Low Residency Program. They are also the founder of MiSynth, a music-neurotechnology research startup dedicated to exploring brain-computer interfaces as a medium for creative musical expression.
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Kanami Kusajima, known as “Let Hair Down,” is a dancer, performing artist, and choreographer from Japan. She earned her BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase in 2020 and has performed in works by Francesca Harper, Yoshiko Chuma, and Ana Maria Lucaciu. Since 2020, she has become a celebrated presence at Washington Square Park, where she merges improvisational dance with live painting using sumi ink, the traditional Japanese calligraphy ink. This bold synthesis of movement and visual art has captured public attention and received media coverage from Voice of America, New York Magazine, The Guardian, PIX11 News, and more.
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Come Early to Elevate Your Experience with Adaptogenic Foods and Teas
Reforesters Laboratory is an experimental adaptogen cafe and sound clinic located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We utilize music – including spatial, sub-bass-centered, and organic instrumentation – along with breathwork, meditation, art, plant care and adaptogenic, nutritional foods + beverages to cultivate kindness—both physical and spiritual. We aim to create an environment that offers peace, space, and clarity, helping people understand the connections between themselves, their communities, and the world around them. To that end, we offer "pay what you can" ticket options on all events and classes.