Dreaming
of Kuanyin, Meeting Madonna began with projected screen images
and an introductory text by the multi-tasking artist Mark Chan, leading
the audience on a journey involving dreams, Kuanyin – the God
of Mercy, later known as the Goddess of Mercy from the twelfth century
– insomnia and finding Madonna.
While the musings of Chan, his evocative music and the video projections
held the multi-disciplinary work together structurally, the dancers
from the Singapore-based ARTS FISSION Company and guest performers seemed
unable to find their place in its overall concept. In the end, this
production was a disconcerting, arid landscape of multiple narratives.
It lacked the dynamics and courage to work at a deeper emotional level.
Storyteller Chan, huqin player Sunny Wong and percussionist
Joe Jayaveeran were located on the stage in a triangular configuration
in front of the three projection screens. Some memorable images by video
artist Brian Gothong Tan included calligraphy that unfolded vertically
line by line, and sections of Henri Rousseau’s surrealist/fantasy
painting The Dream. This appeared near the end of the work
as part of the scene The Dream of Finding Sleep.
But the dancers needed stronger choreography and direction. There was
a lot of walking back and forth, finding a spot and doing some brief
movement phrases that did not add up to a larger purpose. At times,
the movements suggested a struggle between tradition and modernity,
the search for spiritual solace in a chaotic world, peace and love.
These moments were the most successful, as the dancers moved fluidly
between arm gestures derived from generic eastern forms and freer, contemporary
movement. However, none of these themes was developed, and the dancers
drifted in and out as incoherent, imbalanced episodes in the overall
narrative.
A high point was guest dancer Ming Poon’s sensual performance
in the scene Genesis. Featuring sinuous, rippling movements
of the torso, he gave a sense of a man seeking a path to enlightenment.
Scarlet Yu also had an interesting interaction with Chan, where she
physically "outlined" him in a movement phrase that used elements
of traditional dance. More connections that related the dancers to the
other performers would have enriched the piece.
Arts festivals present opportunities for collaborations, and Singapore
dance companies have a history of mounting joint productions for the
Singapore Arts Festival. In seeking to collaborate, artists often restrict
their boundaries to their own areas of expertise, and it is rare to
find a seamless, creative work that smoothly integrates multiple performers
and art forms. This takes time to develop and requires respect and a
deep understanding of each element, be it video imagery, live music,
dance, or narrative.
In trying to include all of the above, Dreaming of Kuanyin
progressed in jagged chunks of material, each contributed by a collaborator,
never gelling into a coherent whole. "I Hear the Cries of the World"
was projected onto the screens many times – unfortunately, no
one on stage seemed to listen or respond to this call to action. |
"'I Hear the Cries of the World' was projected onto the screens
many times – unfortunately, no one on stage seemed to listen or
respond to this call to action."
Credits
Creative Concept, Artistic Direction, Composer, Text,
Musical Director, Performer: Mark Chan
Choreographer, Costume Designer, Concept: Angela Liong
Video Artist: Brian Gothong Tan
Dancers: Elysa Wendi, Scarlet Yu Mei Wah, Bobbi Chen Si Yun, Yan Xiang
Yi and Wu Yi Xin.
Guest Dancers: Lily Tsai Yi (Hong Kong-based), Ming Poon (Italy-based)
Musicians: Sunny Wong (huqin), Joe Jayaveeran (percussion)
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From: The Editor (theatre@inkpot.com / Monday, June 4, 2007 at 01:11:32)
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From: Yi-Sheng (ng.yisheng@gmail.com / Monday, June 4, 2007 at 01:36:39)
Yes, definitely a problematic issue of fusion here - the different components of the collaborative process didn't quite gel (Angela Liong's dance seemed patchy, and Brian Gothong Tan's multimedia could have been a lot more daring - see his work with Queen Ping, BOTE, Nothing, for comparison).
However, as a conceptual art and theatre reviewer, I was struck by how successfully Mark Chan was able to tell the strange story of a troubled artist who experiences a vision of Kuan Yin, reconciling the triangular structure of Kuan Yin/the Virgin Mary/Madonna Ciccone through casual "interview" segments so that the distinction between these metamorphic celebrities/idols becomes lost - becomes a tetrahedral structure, in fact, when linked with the ultimate vertex of the artist himself/ourself.
Appraised as a dance work, "Dreaming of KY" may deserve **, but as a work of philosophical theatre, it surely deserves higher praise.
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