Shaolin monks on Western dancing steps
14/4/2008 17:46
Relaxing Western music, huge wooden boxes and Shaolin monks: the seemingly
incompatible elements are being combined into a new dancing performance set to
debut in London next month.
"Sutra", the latest production by
Flemish-Moroccan choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, will be on show in the
Sadler's Wells Theater from May 27 to 31. The ticket prices range from 10
British pounds (US$19.70) to 35 pounds, he told Xinhua while directing a
rehearsal at the Shaolin Temple, in central China's Henan Province,
yesterday.
Cherkaoui takes a completely unconventional method to interpret
the martial art by underlining its contemplative spirit, beautiful movements and
imitation of animals, rather than violence.
In the creative pantomime, 17
Buddhist Shaolin monks will make movements such as standing in the huge boxes
that fall down one by one like dominos. They also jump like frogs.
"I was
inspired by the Shaolin understanding of movement, their complete identification
with the living beings around them, and that remarkable ability to become the
essence of a tiger, crane or snake," Cherkaoui said. "I want to show my audience
another layer of kung-fu."
In "Sutra", the 17 Shaolin kung-fu experts will
show poetic and thought-provoking images of how human or animal life goes from
beginning to the end.
"We wanted to go back to the internal conceits of Chan
Buddhism, about the philosophy of emptiness and how energy goes through but is
never contained by the body," Cherkaoui added. "We want to show all qualities of
kung-fu: relaxation as well as tension."
Hisashi Itoh, the pantomime
producer, who called the kung-fu movement "the most beautiful over the past 15
decades", said they approached martial arts from a different perspective because
there have been "too much entertainment for Shaolin".
"It should be something
of our inner part, rather than just tense movement," he said.
Shi Xiaodong,
10, the youngest in the show, said the performance was just like playing a
game.
"I don't understand what the pantomime intends to tell, but some of the
actions in the performance were part of my routine, such as sitting in
meditation."
The show, a joint work of Cherkaoui and famed British sculptor
Antony Gormley, who created a constructed environment for the performers, would
be part of the Chinese dance season to be held in the theater in May and
June.
Established about 1,500 years ago, the Shaolin Temple is famous for
combining martial arts with Buddhism and is a popular tourist attraction.
An
estimated three million foreigners have studied Shaolin kung-fu in some 50
countries and regions.
Xinhua
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