All the Dancers Are One Family 天下麥舞一家親

This project, initiated by artist Wang Xue, explores Meshrep (or Maiwu), a form of contemporary Chinese square dance, through field research and archival study. It includes two publications: The National Meshrep Square Dance Directory, a community-maintained guide listing dance groups and schedules nationwide, and The Meshrep Score, which traces the transformation of Meshrep from ritual to stage to public square using historical dance materials. “All the dancer are one family” is a slogan often shared among Meshrep dancer friends, perhaps expresses people’s longing for connection and collective movement. Cactus Press aims for these publications to act as a “sustainable dancing guide,” celebrating connection, friendship, and collective movement, while allowing Maiwu to continue generating new relationships and possibilities for shared dance.

Artist: Wang Xue Sophia

Design, Edit: Jasper Yi Cao

First edition: 100 copies

Printed in riso, two colors

About the Publisher

「仙人掌」是由三位生活在荷蘭與中文世界之間的女性組成的出版小組。 以「仙人掌」為名，我們實踐一種迂迴、輕盈而沉潛的出版方式。我們關注在乾旱與沉默之地生長的抵抗之姿。對我們而言，出版是一種跨越不同土壤重新發聲的嘗試，在此前提下，「出版」的過程成為一種相互滲透的超文本實踐。每一本書都是一個節點，與聲音、影像、展覽和身體性行動相互勾連。出版不止關乎文本的呈現，更關乎關係的生成，它在不同語境中被重新閱讀、再生產，從而保持一種開放的生命力。 Cactus Press is a publishing collective formed by three women living between the Netherlands and the Mandarin-speaking world. Cactus Press develops a hybrid practice that connects print media, sound, moving image, exhibition-making, and participatory performance. We are drawn to gestures of resistance that grow out of dryness and silence. For us, publishing is an attempt to speak again across different soils a process of interpenetration and exchange that turns each book into a living hypertext. Each publication becomes a node that links to other forms and contexts, generating new relations that keep the practice open, porous, and alive.