August, 2005 - Nr. 8
Xing Ballet’s Love Project startles with unique creativity
SFR. Already at the press preview it was clear that something extraordinary was being prepared. Chinese born dancer and choreographer Xing Bang Fu and Japanese dancer Mari Osanai joined forces of their considerable talents again to create a trilogy they call the Love Project. The full version was nothing short of wonderful and awe inspiring.
In this first instalment we find the two dancers interpreting the basics of natural law, the urge to survive in all its scientific, and detailed, and nevertheless fascinating glory.
The space of desire
From the spiritual need to manifest itself in physical form, spaces are defined, desires and needs expressed, urges dramatized, from a molecular cell point of view, as well as the spiritual and human one.
A stage of life
From scene to scene we follow a male and female perspective as designed to procreate the species. We suffer with them through the barriers of time and space and different needs, only to arrive at its fulfilment in the end of a completed cycle that will spawn new life. Longing, desire, abdication of self-importance, giving, receiving, pleasure, fulfillment are all expressed in the unique style of the two dancers in their choreography. Xing’s training of Chinese dance and the martial arts combine wonderfully with the classic moves of western ballet, lending a powerful serenity to his performance.
Mari’s Japanese culture is apparent in the intellectual femininity of geisha moves so totally and unexpectedly, suddenly in her near acrobatic slow motion movements, in contortions that express the female vulnerability.
Creation of future
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The idea of joining the dancers in the performance space while they are there, waiting in the near dark, like life itself is about to dawn all around us, so close, almost close enough to touch, certainly close enough to see and perceive any drop of perspiration on their bodies, yet also being separated into privacy by this darkness of the space, just lit as need be to emphasize the efforts of creation into existence, makes the dance a poetry of the heart and mind, of joining body and soul, like life itself, making the audience part of the eternal dance of survival.
All this is supported by a medley of classical and contemporary music, chansons and Bach Sonatas…sound pictures for the purpose of illustration. Simon Sylvain Lalonde, Executive Director of the Xing Dance Theatre, created just enough of a set to indicate an appropriate structure for this happening, shaping spaces of inner and outer dimensions. His costumes are equally simple and to the point. Less is more all around. All was well controlled by the technical support.
This is truly an interesting and innovative approach to dance and the storytelling of life through this medium. One can hardly wait for the next instalment!
To find out more about this fabulous dance company go to www.xingdancetheatre.com.
