{"id":6772,"date":"2026-03-04T19:22:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laserre.ca\/?post_type=artistes-recherche&#038;p=6772"},"modified":"2026-03-04T19:56:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:56:34","slug":"charles-gao","status":"publish","type":"artistes-recherche","link":"https:\/\/laserre.ca\/en\/artists-research\/charles-gao\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Gao"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='av_section_1'  class='avia-section av-av_section-2dcb3d115e2e5af9a73072e0505910f8 main_color avia-section-default avia-no-border-styling  avia-builder-el-0  el_before_av_section  avia-builder-el-first  avia-bg-style-scroll container_wrap fullsize'  ><div class='container av-section-cont-open' ><main  role=\"main\" itemprop=\"mainContentOfPage\"  class='template-page content  av-content-full alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-6772'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-av_textblock-e878f05c31dff72941bf1e49a00d9ff5 '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><h1><span class=\"ls-page-titre\">Charles Gao<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-mmcfa001-f65903a96bf626a067341dac614dfbd0\">\n.avia-image-container.av-mmcfa001-f65903a96bf626a067341dac614dfbd0 img.avia_image{\nbox-shadow:none;\n}\n.avia-image-container.av-mmcfa001-f65903a96bf626a067341dac614dfbd0 .av-image-caption-overlay-center{\ncolor:#ffffff;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='avia-image-container av-mmcfa001-f65903a96bf626a067341dac614dfbd0 av-styling- avia-align-center  avia-builder-el-2  el_after_av_textblock  el_before_av_textblock  ls-home-top-image av-has-copyright av-copyright-always'   itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\" ><div class=\"avia-image-container-inner\"><div class=\"avia-image-overlay-wrap\"><img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class='wp-image-6759 avia-img-lazy-loading-not-6759 avia_image ' src=\"https:\/\/laserre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Portrait_Charles-gao_CR-Vickie-Grondin-683x1030.jpg\" alt='' title='Portrait Charles Gao'  height=\"1030\" width=\"683\"  itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\" srcset=\"https:\/\/laserre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Portrait_Charles-gao_CR-Vickie-Grondin-683x1030.jpg 683w, https:\/\/laserre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Portrait_Charles-gao_CR-Vickie-Grondin-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/laserre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Portrait_Charles-gao_CR-Vickie-Grondin-768x1158.jpg 768w, https:\/\/laserre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Portrait_Charles-gao_CR-Vickie-Grondin-1018x1536.jpg 1018w, https:\/\/laserre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Portrait_Charles-gao_CR-Vickie-Grondin-995x1500.jpg 995w, https:\/\/laserre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Portrait_Charles-gao_CR-Vickie-Grondin-467x705.jpg 467w, https:\/\/laserre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Portrait_Charles-gao_CR-Vickie-Grondin.jpg 1273w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/div><small class=\"avia-copyright\">Vickie Grondin<\/small><\/div><\/div>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-mmcfam3e-e4d21436ea80131bf447ee7013b5400a '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock ls-font-50'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Charles is an oddball of Chinese descent, doing odd jobs here and there, like digital marketing, accounting and taxes, but is also a b-boy, theatre artist and writer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Charles has a degree in business, but hated how capitalism breeds rule-by-whoever-has-the-most-money, and fell in love with breaking. He believed this dance could change his life, and it did, and is forever grateful for being welcomed as a guest into this beautiful black diasporic culture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the NDP took power in Ontario, they offered free post-secondary education, making it possible for Charles to pursue a BFA in theatre in Tiotiakhe\/Montreal, because he wanted to create a kind of Hip Hop theatre with breaking, where he could imagine what a better future for all would look like, a future where everyone could afford to be an artist if they wanted to, where no one had to sacrifice their humanity in order to live.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Charles is still imagining what this future could look like.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today he shares his love of dance, music and Hip Hop with others, hoping it can change the world like it changed him, but has no clue if that&#8217;ll ever be possible, but he can only naively hope.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instagram : <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/mercenarygao\/#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mercenarygao<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/main><!-- close content main element --><\/div><\/div><div id='av_section_2'  class='avia-section av-av_section-6f1d7982ba765679b9e9bc761702e58e main_color avia-section-default avia-no-border-styling  avia-builder-el-4  el_after_av_section  avia-builder-el-last  avia-bg-style-scroll container_wrap fullsize'  ><div class='container av-section-cont-open' ><div class='template-page content  av-content-full alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-6772'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-mmcfavmd-afde67957f0290a3e4afd33fdf12c650 '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock ls-font-100'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Welcome to the Digital Desert<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n<div class='flex_column_table av-av_one_full-23e2fa00a34c57d74284239a72c0e0b4 sc-av_one_full av-equal-height-column-flextable'>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_one_full-23e2fa00a34c57d74284239a72c0e0b4\">\n.flex_column.av-av_one_full-23e2fa00a34c57d74284239a72c0e0b4{\nwidth:100%;\nmargin-left:0;\n}\n#top .flex_column_table.av-equal-height-column-flextable.av-av_one_full-23e2fa00a34c57d74284239a72c0e0b4 .av-flex-placeholder{\nwidth:0%;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-av_one_full-23e2fa00a34c57d74284239a72c0e0b4 av_one_full  avia-builder-el-6  el_after_av_textblock  el_before_av_one_full  ls-font-28 first flex_column_table_cell av-equal-height-column av-align-top  column-top-margin'     ><section  class='av_textblock_section av-mmcfbhsf-997eb68796d9ec3a893b48079b270b3f '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock ls-deux-colonnes-suivi'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This project is an inquiry into the paradoxes of human technology, the attention economy, and the rupture of our shared realities, for good and for bad. Invoking the wild wackiness of human digital ingenuity, the story follows BOBBI BILLIONS, a lasagna recipe hunter, through her adventures in the DYNET, a global alternate reality everyone uses to stay connected. But during a livestreamed therapy session, she gets contacted by a mysterious figure who claims he can take down the DYNET to give them something <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">real<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Digital Desert<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is Charles\u2019s first full-length theatrical work with a multidisciplinary cast of actors and dancers. Thinking of the text as a kind of music, Charles aims to develop a new aesthetic with the use of breaking vocabulary as a foundation for the movement language of the play, as well as simultaneous use of voice and complex movement.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div><\/div><!--close column table wrapper. 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