Often seen as catering to a niche market, modern dance has been described as hard to comprehend, puzzling and exclusive. But Willy Tsao, Artistic Director of the Guangdong Dance Festival (GDF), has a different take: modern dance is not meant to be understood, but experienced. Forget about straining your brain trying to uncover concrete meaning and let the beauty of movement engage you.
Relying not on splendid costumes or dazzling effects, modern dance generally presents plainly dressed performers on simply decorated stages. There are no codified steps or structured balletic motions, just sentiments conveyed through the self-determined gestures the dancers make.
“What matters is the unsaid thing. To feel the hidden message with your eyes, your ears and, most importantly, with your heart is what you should do when enjoying a modern dance show," says Tsao. "We are not doing mathematics here."
This year sees the 11th edition of the GDF. From November 8 to 15, this annual modern dance gala will showcase 36 works from Canada, Israel, Holland, America, Italy, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Zhuhai and Guangzhou. Following their successful staging of 25 shows on Shamian Island last year, GDF will continue reaching out to the community by putting on free public displays outside Xinghai Concert Hall.
In addition to performances, symposia and dance camps are also being held, in an attempt to introduce more world-class troupes and promote rising local talent.
Please note: Originally some performances were scheduled to take place outside Guangdong Museum. These have been moved to Xinghai PA Garden, outside Xinghai Concert Hall.
Two Room Apartment
The original version of Two Room Apartment is considered a milestone in the development of independent Israeli choreography. First premiered in 1987, the work of Liat Dror and Nir Ben-Gal has been reinterpreted by Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor, who examine boundaries in various contexts: physical borders such as walls, non-physical borders such as the one between life and performance and the self-imposed boundaries that individuals set for themselves.
What’s your own perspective on borders? Is it different or similar to the ideas held in the original work?
Borders are defined and created by human beings. It's not something given to humanity by nature. Borders are created on a daily basis through legislation, through behavior, through personal ideas, etc., and usually they are created in order to prevent chaos in society. But some of them seem too limiting and not necessary. What is interesting for us is to challenge some of these borders: to rethink and to question certain perspectives and to test their validity in today's society. We think the original work also dealt with this idea of borders, but we implemented our own perception on the subject, and we also challenged some of the ideas that the original presented.
What revisions have you made to the original?
We did several major [changes] in our version of the work. First, we are two men, and they are a man and a woman. The presentation of a homosexual relationship on stage in public as a casual thing is not something that would work back in 1987 when the original work was created. We also let ourselves breath heavily if necessary, drink water, count our steps out loud and talk to each other on stage if we need it. In general, we prefer to present people dancing and not god-like perfect dancers. We also put the audience members close to us and around the dancing space – unlike the original work from 1987 that was presented on a proscenium stage.
What was the most difficult part of the creation process?
Two months before the premiere of the work, after having copied all the material from the video and running it several times in the studio, we confronted a crisis. The movement was not ours, the nuances were not ours, the behavior was not ours – it was all theirs. We couldn’t tell whether we were being ourselves or representing Nir and Liat. It was elusive. But it was not only the question of who we are but also questions of artistic choices; some of the choices made in 1987 are not convincing for us today anymore. Then we decided to open the work for improvisation in the studio and rethink it.
// November 13, 8pm, RMB80-280. Guangzhou Opera House, for listing click here.
I Am Son
Hailing from Scandiano, Italy, Lara Guidetti is a dancer, actress, choreographer and teacher in the worlds of both modern dance and theater. Her work I Am Son explores the theme of contemporary European identity and seeks to understand the implications of birthright. We spoke to the versatile artist to discover more.
What’s the implied message behind the title, I Am Son?
Our aim was to investigate our identity, or, maybe better, our generation’s identity – Italians [aged] 30 – in [relation] to Europe and Western society. Then we realized that, trying to speak about ourselves, we were telling something about our fathers, trying at the same time to kill them – ideally, of course. So the title I Am Son was born. It is a definition that is also a question: of whom and what are we really sons?
Critics have said your work explores “the emptiness of Western/European society in a post-war context.” Do you agree with that?
I personally find this definition perfect for I Am Son. But it is difficult for me to define the “emptiness” itself. The emptiness is a lack of something, and you may recognize it as a hole, a missing part. Who really knows how to fill that hole? The body is a great tool to do that. Because it works on certainty, it uses concrete elements that help to build a well-defined sense. Our goal was to transfer that sense of emptiness that we catch around us – even if it is so difficult to define it at best, and maybe too complex.
Birthright is another issue discussed in the dance. What exactly are the birthrights the three characters attempt to understand during the show?
Birthright is something cyclic, strongly related to the daily life. We might say it is the right to begin again despite the expectations that other people or society have planned about us. Birthright is somehow the right to be ever surprised, and to play with our lives as if we are eternal children. Only thus we may be safe. Together.
What’s your expectation for the show performed in China?
I Am Son teaches us to avoid expectations for any performance we do, apart from one: to create a relationship with other human beings, with their identities, with their culture. I think that, [regardless of] the scientific assumptions of the show, I Am Son is an intimate performance, where we try to touch the audience’s nerves. We noticed that audiences react differently in relation to the cities and the countries where we perform. It is the first time we [will] present the show in China, and this is a great honor and an exciting challenge. How will the audience of the greatest Eastern country react to a performance so much connected to the fact we are 30-year-old Italians, Europeans, Westerners?
// November 12, 8pm, RMB80-280. Guangzhou Opera House, for listing click here.
Other highlights
A Tale Begun by Tiger Princess Dance Projects
This duet, inspired by fatherhood, was first created in 2004. It explores relationships through nuanced movement vocabulary as well as the intangible elements of connectivity. A showcase of choreographic prowess, the piece depicts the simultaneous joy and irritation of familial closeness.
// November 8, 2pm, free. Xinghai PA Garden, outside Xinghai Concert Hall, click here for listing.
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Photo by Talia Freed
Peep Dance by Tami Dance Company
Peep Dance has been performed across the globe since its premier at the 2007 International Bat-Yam Festival and been seen by more than 30,000 people. It delivers three unique, simultaneous dance performances via three separate peep cells, in an attempt to explore the connections between peeping and politics.
// November 8, 3pm, free. Xinghai PA Garden, outside Xinghai Concert Hall, click here for listing.
Drifting by Good Dance Center
Utilizing the spatial structure of the stage, the living situations and internal conversations of five dancers are explored. Each dancer attempts to find a home for their drifting soul, experiencing both hesitation and loss. Why did they abandon the easy life they had before? And what keeps them moving forward?
// November 10, 2pm, RMB120. Guangdong Modern Dance Center Theater, for listing click here.
Floating Flowers by Tsai Po-cheng
Tsai Po-cheng is an independent choreographer from Taiwan. His works naturally combine dance theater and physical technique. The work Floating Flowers was inspired by Chinese lanterns; each and every up and down in our life journey is a self-searching process.
// November 11, 4pm, RMB80-280. Guangzhou Opera House, for listing click here.
Galatea X by Justyne Li and Wong Tan-ki
According to Greek mythology, sculptor Pygmalion fell in love with his own statue, Galatea. Breathing life into his art, the creator is also shaped by his own creation. Such an intriguing transformation is irreversible, and so is the metamorphosis of this dance work.
// November 11, 8pm, RMB80-280. Guangzhou Opera House, for listing click here.
Photo by Derk Stenvers
Bokko the Ultimate Fusion by Dansmakers Amsterdam
Karel van Laere and Vanja Rukavina were so interested in the influence of Asian media culture that they decided to create a dance showing how the media rules our behavior and shapes reality. A fiery live spectacle is accompanied by enlivening music and video animation.
// November 14-15, 8pm, RMB120. Guangdong Modern Dance Center Theater, for listing click here.
For the full schedule click here.
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