I’m playing cello and electric bass in this incredibly epic work by Heather Christian <3

TERCE: A Practical Breviary is a radical rethinking of a monastic 9am mass and an adaptation that reimagines the face of the “Holy Spirit” through the lens of the Divine Feminine. Sung by a community choir of 30 plus caregivers and makers, it is a wild meditation/celebration of the sacred mothers alive in all of us and how that manifests in regard to the Earth, each other, and ourselves.

The Space at Irondale
85 South Oxford Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Tickets and more info here!

I invite you to be still, close your eyes, take slower breaths and let sound wash over you. Letters to the Moon, is an evening of sound collages featuring ethereal cello, haunting vocals, projected images, fragments of familial interviews and stories told across splintered languages. 

Written and Performed by Mel Hsu
In collaboration with visual artist Bz Zhang 
Directed by Cat Ramirez 
Produced by Intercultural Journeys, The Table Sessions

Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Performances 
THURSDAY, JANUARY 19 @ 7:00PM
FRIDAY, JANUARY 20 @ 7:00PM
SATURDAY, JANUARY 21 @ 7:00PM

Photo by Kenzi Crash

Mel’s Off-Broadway Debut!

In Melis Aker’s world premiere play HOUND DOG, a young musician returns from abroad to her hometown of Ankara, Turkey to look after her widowed father. Forced to reckon with the family and community she left behind, an investigation into her grieving parent’s strange pilgrimage to Graceland unravels into a sonic mirage of memory packed with humor, nostalgia and the love we cultivate across generations. Directed by Machel Ross with music by Aker and the Lazours, this cross-cultural jam-session-meets-play explores the winding path towards forgiveness and belonging.

Ars Nova @ Greenwich House
27 Barrow St.
New York, NY 10014

Tickets and More Info Here!

Photos by Danny Bristoll

Mel will be making music in New York || Sept 9th and Sept 10th!

This performance will be quite special, because I've reunited with one of my childhood friends (Eric Seligman!) to co-create a magical and ethereal soundscape for choreographer Ilya Vidrin. It'll be about an hour of meditative sonic expanse in partnership with movement.

"Choreographer, artist, and educator Ilya Vidrin and the New Museum present the world premiere of More or Less, a meditative performance investigating social responsibility and communal care. More or Less is a formal inquiry into partnering. Moving fluidly from dyads to solo to group work, seven performers investigate relationships as they deliberately encounter their own bodies, one another, and physical and sonic elements within the New Museum’s white box theater."

New Museum
235 Bowery
New York, NY

Performances
Friday, 9/9: 7PM
Saturday, 9/10: 4PM and 7PM

2021 was a historical year for people of the asian diaspora living in america. 

this year taught me how to listen closely for my ancestors - the ones that crossed oceans, the ones that were homesick, the ones that built new homes. 

especially in the wake of the massage parlor shootings in atlanta, this year taught me in such visceral ways that not all of my ancestors are bound by blood. i felt a permission - a sacred demand - to learn and to hear their stories - woven through every door opened, every micro and macro aggression we still need to clench our teeth through. all of the ancestors that endured in order to make my survival in white america possible. 
 

Its been an honor and a privilege to make my re-entry into live theater with an entirely asian cast to tell the forgotten story of afong moy - the first chinese woman to ever step foot in america in 1834. 
 

this is the first fully asian cast I have ever been a part of - its been a profound gift and journey to have creative control to tell afong moy's story, our story, with the nuance and fullness of humanity she has always deserved. it is healing to bask in all that does not need to be said to be said. 

the show is open for one more week in philly - it would be an honor to share with you. 

we bow our heads to you, Afong Moy. 

xoxo moongirl blends physical theatre, live music, world-class circus, and aerial performance in a hilarious, heart-wrenching and breathtaking story of one woman processing a family life riddled with domestic abuse. This full-length solo show features Nicole Burgio and Melanie Hsu in a semi-autobiographical and acrobatic exploration of escaping the gravitational pull of trauma, navigating complicated relationships, and always believing you’ll end up on the moon.

Morris Museum
6 Normandy Heights Rd.
Morristown, NJ 07960

Thursday, Sept. 24th and Friday, Sept. 25th @ 7PM

Tickets Here!

“This autobiographically inspired circus fantasia incorporates breathtaking aerials and acrobatics to tell the story of a girl in a troubled home, and her flight to the moon to escape and prevail. xoxo moongirl is a critically acclaimed, honest, and emotional ensemble-devised solo show with live music by Mel Hsu. 

During the solo performance, internationally acclaimed acrobat Nicole Burgio shares stories from her childhood, at times inviting audience volunteers to join the theatrics. As the story unfolds, Burgio uses the virtuosic performance languages of aerial circus arts, dance, hand balancing, and a hint of magic to tell her on-going story of survival, resilience, and overcoming abuse.”

Assembly Checkpoint
Edinburgh, Scotland

For tickets, click here!

“This autobiographically inspired circus fantasia incorporates breathtaking aerials and acrobatics to tell the story of a girl in a troubled home, and her flight to the moon to escape and prevail. xoxo moongirl is a critically acclaimed, honest, and emotional ensemble-devised solo show with live music by Mel Hsu. 

During the solo performance, internationally acclaimed acrobat Nicole Burgio shares stories from her childhood, at times inviting audience volunteers to join the theatrics. As the story unfolds, Burgio uses the virtuosic performance languages of aerial circus arts, dance, hand balancing, and a hint of magic to tell her on-going story of survival, resilience, and overcoming abuse.”

Funicular Station
416 W Coulter St
Philadelphia, PA 19144

For tickets, click here!

Mel is playing upright and electric bass for Marie in Tomorrow Land @ The Polyphone Festival!

Marie in Tomorrow Land is a musical collage in which Marie Curie journeys through the remains of a Chernobyl-inspired theme park and encounters much of humanity's troubled history with radioactivity along the way. Featuring a cast of 30+ womxn playing a kaleidoscope of Marie Curies, the piece explores the intersections between science and art, women and history, kitsch and terror, and the impact and aftermath of our radioactive existence.

Tuesday, February 26th @ 8PM
Thursday, February 28th @ 8PM
Saturday, March 2nd @ 5PM

The Wilma Theater
265 S. Broad St.

Tickets available here.

“I come from a broken home, where chaos, domestic abuse, and fighting was a daily routine. I firmly believe that stories like this need to be told, and they need to happen now. Women’s stories of all kinds need to be heard now more than ever. This is how I’m choosing to use my voice in an era where sexism, bullying, and abuse is rampant. I believe art about tough topics doesn’t have to be grim. It can be uplifting. Bad things happen and they don’t have to define you. This is for the underdogs, the underheard, and the improbable. “

Those are the words of Nicole Burgio, multidisciplinary artist and creator of Almanac Dance Circus Theatre’s new production, xoxo moongirl.  The autobiographically-inspired circus fantasia, which runs June 26 through 28, 2018 at Christ Church Neighborhood House (20 N. American Street, Philadelphia, PA), incorporates breathtaking aerials and acrobatics to tell the story of a girl in a troubled home and her flight to the moon to escape and prevail.

Original music composed and performed by Melanie Hsu

JUNE 26, 2018 AT 7PM
JUNE 27, 2018 AT 7PM AND 9PM
JUNE 28, 2018 AT 8PM

Christ Church Neighborhood House
20 North American Street, Philadelphia, PA
$20, $15 for students/industry

Click here for ticketing information

Performing at the Firefly Music Festival on Saturday eve! 

1131 N Dupont Hwy
Dover, DE 1990

David Thompson and the Nasty Star Hermit Band goes on tour! Stay tuned for details! 

Blending jaw-dropping ensemble acrobatics, dance, theatre, and live, original music to tell its story, Leaps of Faith, is an absurd and intimate tapestry of sublime human idiocy. Four hobbyists find each other in a world of weirdos; together, with their trusty sofa as a portal for exploration, they set out on the high seas and leave the world of normalcy behind. But all is not as they imagined it would be, and the audience is left contemplating what we do when we find ourselves lost at sea.

Almanac Circus Dance Theatre @ Touchstone Theater
Sept. 28th - Oct. 1st
321 E. 4th St.
Bethlehem, PA
 

Ticketing and Other Information

LEAPS OF FAITH AND OTHER MISTAKES IS AN ABSURD AND CONTEMPLATIVE TAPESTRY OF SUBLIME HUMAN IDIOCY, ISOLATIONIST SEAFARER CULTS, AND THE KINDS OF PEOPLE THAT DEVOTE THEIR LIVES TO BECOMING ACROBATS.

Four hobbyists find each other alone in a world of weirdos, and push themselves to be “exceptional in every moment.” As they purify themselves and adopt an all-white uniform, their trusty sofa becomes a portal for exploration and they set out on the high-seas and leave the world of fast-food and normal people behind. But all is not as they imagined it would be, and the audience is left contemplating what we do when we find ourselves lost at sea.

Almanac Circus Dance Theatre @ The Painted Bride
Sept. 6th - Sept. 23rd
230 Vine St. 
Philadelphia, PA

Ticketing and other Information