Guangdong dance troupe a dynamic experience
JAKARTA (JP): A blend of dynamic and vibrant movements, balanced with extraordinary athleticism and an elegant thrust of body language will be brought to the stage by the Guangdong Modern Dance Company of China for the Third Arts Summit Indonesia 2001.
After the troupe's successful tours -- including the Edinburgh festival in Scotland last year and this year at New York's The Joyce theater, Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania and Peery's Egyptian Theater in Utah -- they have finally landed here, for the arts summit.
The group, the first from China to participate at the international festival, will perform on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 at 8 p.m. at Graha Bakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in Central Jakarta.
Two choreographies, A Tacit Assembly and I Want to Fly, will be staged for arts lovers here by the troupe, which was praised by the New York Times for its "intensity and emotional power" and dubbed as "a troupe with a difference".
A Tacit Assembly is a collaborative work of the group's choreographers Becky Edmunds and Charlie Morrisey of Brighton, who traveled to China to join the troupe.
I Want to Fly by Lin Pai Shi is an explosive, dramatic solo dance which was also staged at The Joyce.
"It's interesting to see whether their works presented here, with the influence of two new choreographers, still accentuate elements of Chinese arts, or have a stronger western touch," said Sal Murgiyanto, a renowned dance critic and dean of the Jakarta Arts Institute's School of Performing Arts.
He said the troupe, which was set up in 1992, was well known for its quality dancers, while their previous choreographies showed a strong influence of Chinese culture -- courtly, regal and breathtaking in physical beauty, their endearing trademark.
The group's previous work, such as Sitting Still, was an intriguing, captivating group dance that drew upon Chinese symbolism in abstract form.
The Guangdong Modern Dance Company -- China's first professional modern dance company -- was founded by Yang Mei-qi, principal of the Guangdong Dance Academy.
Within a short space of time, the troupe has become a new force in the world of modern dance, boasting a unique vision of its skilled dancers and choreographers.
Its participation in various dance festivals in the United States and other European and Asian countries helped to shape the modernist, aesthetic touch of the group, which has opened the way for the development of dance in China. (ste)