The Dance of Souls— CReations 2014 (Requiem)

With well-known choreographers and dancers lined up for CReations 2014- Requiem, I looked forward to Maya Dance Theatre’s latest dance repertoire with great expectation.

While the first piece ZenDance: Form is Emptiness 2014 (Part One) immediately captured my attention with its rice-paper costumes which gave a stylized form to each dancer, it disappointed me as the dancers seemed to be foreign to their costumes, and were unable to integrate the costumes as part of their dance. Nevertheless, I could see that the choreography required total focus and synchronization from the dancers, not just in terms of forms, but spirit too. While the dance looked messy due to the inability to handle the rice-paper costumes with ease, the dancers executed their actions with great faith and belief, and as an audience member, I truly believed that they were paying homage to something greater than themselves through the dance.

When Dr Sun performed in the rice-paper costume in ZenDance: Form is Emptiness 2014 (Part Two), we could see that she was able to handle the costume so well that the costume was integrated as part of her movements. The costume and the dancer were an entity, and the movement was constantly moving on a horizontal plane in the space. To me, as a "form", she was a new born, which later metamorphosed into a butterfly. She executed her movements with great fluidity, as if she was water, wind, and air—the natural elements one could find on earth. She danced as if she breathed through the dance, in one long breath. Every moment of hers was different; every moment changed; and it is “life” to me. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form—this Zen philosophy was fully demonstrated with Dr Sun's highly crafted and enlightening dance piece.

Do you know you? is a piece in which the Self took a retrospective examination of oneself, with Samantha Teo who examined her "inner self", played by Viv Phua with diversity of strong emotions and expressions. The complexity of "Self" meeting the "other self" was portrayed through the interactions between the characters, and between the characters and the audience, judiciously choreographed by Kenneth Tan.

Wear Have You Been? choreographed by theatre director Jeremiah Choy gave a dramatic examination on the matter of attachment to possession, which was represented by possession of a long-lost favorite article of clothing by each dancer. While it was interesting to see how drama and characterization were incorporated into dance, some dancers lacked the energy to sustain their characterization and emotional state within the movements. The dancers seemed to be lost at times in the depiction of their characters in the 15-minute piece.

Soul River/Blues wrapped up the evening with high energy and spirit. Bernice Lee demonstrated her ability to execute movements with convincing expressions, flexibility, and sensitivity to her partner and space in this piece. It was especially a joy to watch her in her dance sequence with Shahrin Johry. They interpreted the piece with subtlety of emotions demonstrated through their playfulness in forms, which portrayed their sentiments at the same time. To me, Soul River/Blues is about life force and the source of energy/spirit.

The evening ended on a high note, in celebration of life. Throughout the evening, the music created a diversity of textures and soundscape that gave meaning to each dance piece. Should you spend $30 on a Saturday to catch the dance? Yes, you should! If you have an hour and $30, do travel to The Arts House to appreciate the art of design, music, movement and "art" itself, which depict our inner yearnings and pursuit. Two more performances on 18 Oct (3pm and 8pm). More information can be found here:

http://www.bytes.sg/EventDetails.aspx?EventID=643

  

The "Taiwanese Baraka"- Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above 看见台湾 (2014)

   

Twenty years ago, I watched Baraka (1992) directed by Ron Fricke, a non-narrative documentary film that portrays images from urban and rural lives of different cultures. In the film, religious images such as Sufi whirling, the Wailing Wall, Zen monks in meditation and Balinese Kecak ritual are intertwined with images from daily life. Though there was no word or linear line of story delivered through the film, the images and music which was beautifully composed were able to move me in a way that I was drawn to a timeless world, and started to reflect upon the existence of being. Similar feelings were triggered this time as I watched Beyond Beauty, a documentary film which shows Taiwan from an aerial view, and yet there was a difference. I was initially drawn into the timeless world, but was brought to a sorrowful sense of reality after the first half of the film with the director Chi Po-Lin’s concerns for environmental issues that Taiwan is facing, visuals depicting the destructions the nature is going through, music carefully created by Ricky Ho to suit the moods and development of plot, and voice-over narration delivered by Wu Nien-jen with a deep and earnest voice which carried with it a sense of urgency at the same time.

The film begins with portraying the beauty of natural landscapes which at times glitter and at times resemble Chinese ink paintings. The contours, shapes and textures of the natural landscape move like a dance composition as viewers are brought to view them from a bird’s-eye view. The music is majestic and gives the sense of wide expanse in most segments, and yet not losing a magnetic allurement that touches one’s heart. The subtlety of lights, reflections, and winds are captured to portray a series of movement— the movement of wind, the movement of nature, the movement of camera, and the movement of musical notes. 

Just when I thought that the film would go on and on to dwell on the "beauty" of Taiwan, a twist is made with a shot of heavy rain and storm which caused floods over the farmlands. From the erratic climate condition which is highly unpredictable, the narrator brings us to the attention of other environmental issues. The soil of the highlands, which was once held by the strongly rooted trees, are now grounds for agriculture and bungalows. While Taiwan is developing economically, the tragedy that follows is the losing of the natural flow of life, landscapes and nature. The removal of mountain trees leads to the possible danger of landslides; illegal sand and gravel mining takes place on the island that is sinking; industrialization brings about pollution of land, water and air.  

Throughout the film, the intrusion of the tourists which leads to the rapid development of tourism and ruin of the natural landscape is emphasized. As I was viewing the film, I shifted from the position of a "comfortable viewer" to that of a "guilty viewer". I was as if peeping into the landscapes of Taiwan as a tourist, and witnessing the deterioration that has been caused by me. The film, which begins with portraying the beauty of Taiwan, turns into a critical commentary about environmental issues faced by the country. In fact, these are universal problems faced by the modern society collectively. The film transported me from a utopian state to the harsh reality which unveiled before me. 

The film ends with a group of aboriginal children in red, singing on the mountain peak. While the scene is interpreted by many as "hope", it also suggests that ultimately, humans are still in control of nature and have the power to shape their landscapes.

Rating: 9/10