Peggy Choy's Solo Works
"Drawing on the gestural vocabulary of Korea and Java, Peggy Choy's dancing radiated with the articulation of longing and illuminated the tension between spoken and kinetic language."
— Ivanna Yi (Harvard University)
The Beauty Of Flight
Peggy Choy has done a remarkable job in capturing the essence of the battle that goes on inside of the Human being. In Sufism we call this Jihad’ul ‘Nafs (The Greatest Battle in Self). The ego (nafs) is the greatest enemy to the highest nature of man that many describe as God. This production highlights that battle and exalts the highest principles of Love. Every one of us have a very specific calling and many times we find unique ways to fulfill that calling. There lies no question in my soul that Peggy Choy was called to do this work in sincere servitude to Humanity
May the fruit from her Tree of Life continue to bloom…
—G Sheikh Caliph Muab-El
"It [FLIGHT] was truly an imaginative and evocative exploration of a sublime epic. The show successfully captures the perilous journey of knowing oneself, or the greater jihad as the Sufis describe it, through the beautiful verdant fields of prosperity and ease and through the smothering valley of poverty and nothingness. Each movement, step, and motility gently stirs the heart like a whisper that murmurs “burn.. burn… burn yourself!” for the extinction of the self paves the way for the liberation of Beauty that lies within. Flight is truly timeless. It is a
challenge to tread the path of the
mystical wayfarers, an invitation
to know oneself and to that
which gives you life."
—Professor Ismail Fajrie Atatis
Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies
New York University
Flight is a work of bitter beauty. We are the Parrot, the Hawk, the Heron and the Nightingale, too, seeking deep love amidst greed, chaotic violence and decay. And, as the piece suggests in its spoken and visual language, and in its movement, we are asked to pay the ultimate price in the attainment of love – death of the ego-self. Choy’s allegory challenges us all—sick with longing—to scale the mountain in search of love.
— Ann Greene, writer