Hengtu Ge

My “Personal Performance Project” is titled Feathering, inspired by the ancient Chinese folktale "Feather Maiden" from “Stories of Spirits and Immortals”, though the theme of humans transforming into birds. I wanted to reimagine it through a modern lens, infused with insights from a close transgender friend’s journey. At its core, this story explores constraint, transformation, and the raw, messy quest for identity, especially the anxiety of self-discovery.

I set the story in a village in southwestern China in the 1930s. My main character is Li Yuan. Growing up under her father’s suffocating expectations, she’s a quiet soul wrestling with gender identity, too stifled to rebel—until discovery forces her to flee. Her escape leads to a forest encounter with the Birdmen, sparking her metamorphosis.

 Each garment shift mirrors her psyche, literally weaving her rebirth. In my costume designs, you'll see magic and reality broken up, as in a dream, yet based on reality