September marks the beginning of the arts season and Shanghai is getting spoiled with a selection of classic hits from opera to ballet. Joining the fray is homegrown contemporary dance company D.LAB, who premiere their latest original work Invisible Cities on September 13 at Shanghai Theater Academy. What the show lacks in fanfare, it has made up with a hard-earned reputation for quality, with tickets already going fast.
D.LAB has benefited from the notoriety gained by founder Duan Jingting, who stunned judges with her sharp technique while performing in last year’s edition of So You Think You Can Dance China. Her cool and collected look impressed audiences.
However, that confidence wasn’t always part of her dance DNA. Born in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, the 28-year-old admits she tiptoed her way into dance.
“My mother signed me up for dance classes at Children’s Palace, but I was merely following the older kids and playing with them,” she admits. “I wasn’t even aware that I was dancing then.”
Nor could she foresee that she would be recruited by the Shanghai Ballet Company where she would excel. As Duan recalls, her torso was seen as a disadvantage and she struggled getting her weight under control.
“The teacher weighted us exactly by liang [a Chinese measuring unit equal to 50 grams] and I was always one or two liang over,” she says. “We weren’t allowed to eat snacks, only apples, so I invented a new snack – toothpaste with mixed flavors. Still, I have no idea how I became the top student before graduation.”
As a principal dancer of Shanghai Ballet, Duan was invited to participate in prestigious competitions, like the 2002 Varna International Ballet competition, where she was awarded the Best Young Dancer. Ironically, that experience would fuel her love of contemporary dance.
“Ballet dancers were seldom exposed to any contemporary dance training here unless they were taking part in international competitions where it’s part of the evaluation,” she notes.
“My affection for this dance grew stronger, which annoyed my ballet dance teachers. They believed I became technically less proficient as a professional ballet dancer.”
When the Hong Kong Ballet started recruiting for guest dancers, she immediately packed up and took the job, “seeking a chance to break out.” She credits the experience for leading to “much more advanced and mature performances” and a desire to bring her experiences back to the Mainland.
“It occurred to me that Shanghai was a bit behind but definitely understood that market, so I thought, why not start a company? I knew it wouldn’t be easy but I didn’t have much to lose,” she laughs with a slight but unassailable pride on D.LAB’s origins. “As a professional dancer, I can have better control over the quality of our performances.”
For its 2013 premiere, Duan invited dance partners including Zhang Aoyue, the champion of last year’s So You Think You Can Dance China, to put on a love-themed contemporary dance performance. While confident in the dance piece’s quality, she was unsure about attendance, as much of the city were away for Christmas holidays.
The full house that greeted Love surprised her and fueled an ambition to try something bigger and better for Invisible Cities. The performance will be comprised of four different pieces created by talented emerging choreographers like Hu Songwei and Xie Xin, widely recognized dancers in their own right.
Also participating is Damani Leon Pompey, who trained at Purchase College in America. While a prolific dancer, he prefers the term artist. For his piece ‘Deluge,’ he plans to connect with local audiences by “forging an environment where they can connect with the artists on stage through memory, reality and fervor.”
That sort of ambition runs throughout D.LAB. Already Duan is thinking of how to follow Invisible Cities, stating her mission statement.
“I don’t want to be part of the normal and I don’t expect to be a superstar, but by doing all the stuff I’m good at, I can make a difference,” she says.
Gleefully, she unveils her ambitious 15-year plan. “By then, I wish to own a big building equipped with a theater, rehearsal rooms and basically everything I don’t have yet,” she says. “Everything that allows us to do performances that communicates purely in dance without worrying about the commercial benefits.”
// September 13, 7.30pm, RMB80-800. Shanghai Theater Academy, tickets.
Cover Photo by Sang Mo
0 User Comments