I rushed to the show literally right after my exam, by the time I got to the theatre, I was about ten minutes late. As you may have expected, I did not do much preparative research on this work prior to the performance. I was absolutely taking a risk of ‘wasting the ticket’, with genuinely nothing in my mind, no prejudgement, no assumption, no nothing, pure sit-back-and-relax. With this state of mind, I should be thankful that this work was pretty accessible, embracing the profound theory in an explicit and somewhat entertaining choreographic device. Surprisingly, few fragments are still fresh like live today, 18 days after the show.
In fact, CCDC have spent appreciable effort on promotion of this work among secondary schools and universities, supposing they are targeting on the audience with little theatre experience, or primary audience in my word. As far as I have observed, for the works aimed for primary audience, they normally share the following typical characteristics, props oriented, colorful costumes, along with some mainstream type music.
The part I particularly want to highlight here is the idea of ‘fake arm’, that was incredibly fascinating, intelligent and inspiring. In that session, every dancer was dressed in suit with helmet covering up the face, performing repetitive steps echoed by the robotic electronic sounds. The sense of lost individualism and routine-like suffocation was instantly visualized. Most interestingly, the real arm in suit worked surprisingly well with the fake arm, while the real arm without cover danced like the fake one. It took me a while to figure out which is which. As in the reality, fake or real, we just can’t tell. Intrinsically, the hint of greed, or aspiration from deep inside I should say, was stirringly strong. Free from any restriction, it went wilder and wilder looking like it was going to be detached any second, the real soul was going to be unleashed any minute. I was deeply impressed by the free arm then, I am now more attracted to the posture of the fake arm. When paying more attention, they are all different on each dancer, inducing the slight and only personality to them. The gesture held like it is ready to give a handshake anytime, the most common way to express friendliness, or agreement nowadays. That was fairly reflective and thought-stimulating gesture indeed. Every time when we shake someone’s hand, does that really infer our ‘friendship’, or it’s just an ‘easier’ way to start or end a conversation? In showbiz world, whenever there is a fell-out rumor going on between two artists, they always stand out and shake hands to crack the so-called myth. However, who knows? We should redefine the meaning of handshake in social life. The scene was seriously rooted in my mind, it still constantly loops in my head today.
Act III - Nine Songs, has been the most enjoyable act in the whole production, with laughters arousing in the hall. Dancers came out wearing a cube with Political figures’ faces on four sides, I can still remember that crystal clear now. It’s not just because the way they moved with that cube was amusing, but the way of how various dance genre were utilized to outline one’s characteristic was absorbing, like conservative ones taking classical ballet steps (Dance of the Lord and the Lady of the Xiang), Obama and Hillary performing the stereotyped American broadway steps (Dance of the Master of Fate and his subordinate). Actually, the relationship between Obama and Hillary was well portrayed in this choreography, dancing in union depicts their superficial peaceful partnership, whereas Obama holding Hillary back when she was trying to go beyond, the hostile kind of relationship was subtly hinted. The best sarcasm must be down to the Dance of the Mountain Ghosts, Neanderthal like steps and clumsy moves were perfect and manifest to illustrate how uncivilized of Laden, Saddam and Gaddafi are. The role of Ai Weiwei there was pretty obvious to be the contemporary version of Qu Yuan. From my point of view, his existence may not be intended to change something, but at least he froze up the scene and let us digest the current picture. This act is, to some extent, cheesy but in an intriguing way.
Act IV - Questions to the Heaven, is certainly an eye-catching act, the props became the actual dancers. They represent different routine works we face everyday, exaggerated size made those look like endless mission. It sounds quite provocative, right? To be fair, I personally think this scene has ruined the entire work, to some experienced audience I suppose. Too abstract or too explicit of an art work is somehow a fatal wound. In this case, the latter one. Plus, the sense of getting lost or tired from routine work is no longer a ‘new’ idea on stage art, a more innovative approach shall be employed instead. Starting from the beginning, I found this work rather predictable and conservative in terms of storyline and choreographic device, but there were some interesting elements kept me staying. However, this scene, unfortunately, turned out to be a disaster. When the first dancer came up, I sat there and thought: I knew this. Apparently, nothing appeared out of my expectation all the way through, especially for the very last scene of Dominic transcending from crawling to walking with faith, that was the most boring scene ever. No expectation, no surprise, just pure disappointment.
I would take this production as an installation art exhibition, which seems to be more appropriate. I, indeed, love the costumes and the props incorporated, but there shall be more innovative chemistry between dancers and counterparts. However, having said that, it has been, to a great extent, a considerably successful ‘bridging’ work for audience with little theatre experience.
In general, the approach may not be the best, but the message it conveyed is certainly deep influencing. This work has explored diverse aspects we are familiar with, as if reminding where our Qu Yuan is, or how we should locate Qu Yuan in us. Different scene may have different meaning to different people. As Willy said, everyone possesses his own part of QuYuan. To me, Qu Yuan is always with my social life.
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