Guangdong dance troupe a dynamic experience
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)