The Treasure.
This work, consisting of two dancers, and a live musician performing original music composed specifically for the piece, explores the behaviours of two people intimately and inextricably caught together. It opens up and re-embodies 'precious' moments in their relating. Feng Feng Wang, Choreographer, says of the piece "I wanted to present the study in much the same way we might show or display an artefact or treasure in a gallery.
“In ‘Treasure’ this conceptualization of the relationship between feminine and masculine blends with my understanding of emotion and leads to explorations of levels within various emotional states, such as comfort, play, exclusion, support, dissonance, compromise, passiveness, initiative, care and mutuality. They became the basis for developing ‘scores’ for improvisation and identifying and further manipulating key movement forms
“To my knowledge of Chinese philosophy, yin and yang have never been associated with specific moral or aesthetic values. What is Chinese beauty or beneficial is neither yin nor yang but the dynamic balance between the two.
“In my intention, the human relation is not as simple as “white” or “black”, lover or enemy. Mostly it stays in a dynamic balance state too – neither pure Yin nor Yang, and may not be hot or cool. It contains many different “tastes”, - sweet, salty, spicy, and acid. I found that subtle senses can be beautifully “drawn” by very fine “strokes” of body language.”
Xing.
The work, consisting of five dancers and a live singer, explores the circulation between the five traditional Chinese “Taoism” elements of wood, fire, earth, water, and metal.
The five elements, also called "Wu Xing" represent the processes that are fundamental to the cycles of nature. The Chinese term "xing" means the process of one thing acting upon another.
In relation to the five elements, the cycle of processes as “Yin” and “Yang” can be represented as:
Each dancer embodies through the performance subtle detailed shifts - temporary moments of balance, harmonization of occurrence, growth, development, symmetry and change.
The original music for the piece, written by Gus Macmillan, also reflects the interchangeable nature of these themes, with new sounds or instrumentation introduced as each performer's journey commences, to develop thematically in parallel to the structure as the performance plays out. The process of composing and developing the music was strongly inter-linked to the choreographer's rehearsal processes and practices.
"Xing was a delicately choreographed, hypnotic work involving
a cross-cultural ensemble. It was enthusiastically received by audiences and could easily have run for another week of performances."
Vanessa Pigrim, Artistic Director, Full Tilt Program, The Arts Centre, Victoria
This work, consisting of two dancers, and a live musician performing original music composed specifically for the piece, explores the behaviours of two people intimately and inextricably caught together. It opens up and re-embodies 'precious' moments in their relating. Feng Feng Wang, Choreographer, says of the piece "I wanted to present the study in much the same way we might show or display an artefact or treasure in a gallery.
“In ‘Treasure’ this conceptualization of the relationship between feminine and masculine blends with my understanding of emotion and leads to explorations of levels within various emotional states, such as comfort, play, exclusion, support, dissonance, compromise, passiveness, initiative, care and mutuality. They became the basis for developing ‘scores’ for improvisation and identifying and further manipulating key movement forms
“To my knowledge of Chinese philosophy, yin and yang have never been associated with specific moral or aesthetic values. What is Chinese beauty or beneficial is neither yin nor yang but the dynamic balance between the two.
“In my intention, the human relation is not as simple as “white” or “black”, lover or enemy. Mostly it stays in a dynamic balance state too – neither pure Yin nor Yang, and may not be hot or cool. It contains many different “tastes”, - sweet, salty, spicy, and acid. I found that subtle senses can be beautifully “drawn” by very fine “strokes” of body language.”
Xing.
The work, consisting of five dancers and a live singer, explores the circulation between the five traditional Chinese “Taoism” elements of wood, fire, earth, water, and metal.
The five elements, also called "Wu Xing" represent the processes that are fundamental to the cycles of nature. The Chinese term "xing" means the process of one thing acting upon another.
In relation to the five elements, the cycle of processes as “Yin” and “Yang” can be represented as:
- wood feeds fire
- fire creates ashes which form earth
- inside the earth, metal which is heated liquefies and produces water vapour
- water generated then nourishes the trees, or wood
Each dancer embodies through the performance subtle detailed shifts - temporary moments of balance, harmonization of occurrence, growth, development, symmetry and change.
The original music for the piece, written by Gus Macmillan, also reflects the interchangeable nature of these themes, with new sounds or instrumentation introduced as each performer's journey commences, to develop thematically in parallel to the structure as the performance plays out. The process of composing and developing the music was strongly inter-linked to the choreographer's rehearsal processes and practices.
"Xing was a delicately choreographed, hypnotic work involving
a cross-cultural ensemble. It was enthusiastically received by audiences and could easily have run for another week of performances."
Vanessa Pigrim, Artistic Director, Full Tilt Program, The Arts Centre, Victoria
NSW
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney
11 – 13 September
