Modern dance's rebirth
- Source: Global Times
- [08:30 December 10 2010]
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Dancers performing in Oath - Midnight Rain. Photo: Wen Fang
By Jiang Yuxia
Oath - Midnight Rain, an integration of traditional Chinese culture and modern dance has helped Beijing Modern Dance Company (BMDC) garner international fame. Commissioned by the 2006 Biennale de Venice, the work is set to captivate Beijing audiences when it's staged at the National Center for the Performing Arts tonight and tomorrow.
The piece is second on the bill of Beijing Vision, one of BMDC's classic programs and will be presented alongside Taoist-influenced Unfettered Journey, choreographed by Hu Lei.
Oath - Midnight Rain, choreographed by BMDC's lead dancer and artistic director Gao Yanjinzi, illustrates her understanding of rebirth by casting a human's soul to be reborn in the forms of five objects from traditional Chinese painting: A flower, bird, fish, insect and grass.
"I admire Buddhism very much In my opinion, birth and death are not absolute," Gao told the Global Times. "There are all kinds of sayings about rebirth. I did my own reflections and I use dance to illustrate my understanding," she explained, adding that people in the East more often see life as a circle while in the West it is often seen as lineal. "You either go to heaven or hell after you die."
To Gao, the five small entities better showcase life's elements as they highlight the conflicts and clashes between the inner ideals of a human being and the outside world.
"For example, when you are reborn to the world with big wishes but a small body instead of a human's body to realize your dreams, you still have to live your life. Every small life also needs to spend its life with a strong will, then it can be reborn cherishing all its wishes to another form," Gao explained.
The 45-minute piece features six dancers and is set to a mixture of music including pop, electronic, folk and sacred. A bride dressed in a red wedding gown links one dancer to another. In between are five solos as the bride's soul is reborn in the five different forms.
