Martial Arts in Live Theater

[GeneChing]

...but totally relevant here.

Kung fu theater
By Liao Danlin Source:Global Times Published: 2015-6-24 18:53:01
Lack of story hurting martial arts performances in China


Performers stage a scene from play Kung Fu Poetry in Zhengzhou, Henan Province in March. Photo: CFP

Bringing a Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee movie to the stage as a live performance can be a very tempting idea for production companies. However, actually making such a production a reality may be far more difficult than producers ever imagined.

Over the past few years, all kinds of action dramas have been produced all over China. Local governments, martial arts training schools, as well as production companies have all made attempts to bring audiences into theaters for some kung fu action.

This trend continued this year, as a number of performances hit stages during the first half of 2015.

Martial Arts, Legendary, a co-production by the Jingwu County government in Tianjing and the Huo Yuanjia Civil and Military School, presents the 4,000-year history of Chinese martial arts and the life story of martial artist Huo Yuanjia.

Eleven Martial Artists, created by the Chinese Dragon Martial Arts Troupe, combines elements of ballet, modern dance and drama as well as a video montage to recreate the life of Bruce Lee.

The Guangzhou Drama Art Center and Huaman Brother's Messy Temple is an adaptation of the comic book series of the same name. The series has already been adapted into several movies that were all well received at the box office.

These action dramas keep up the excitement by presenting intense fighting scenes featuring dangerous acrobatics. Many of the shows begin and end with a fight. Sometimes the fighting can even go on for 20 minutes to a half an hour.

Performers are mostly from martial arts training schools. However, although the martial arts sections of such shows can sometimes match the brilliance seen in blockbuster martial arts films, these performances have had a hard time staying popular enough to convince investors to pour more money into them.

Last weekend, South Korean martial art show Jump was held at the Poly Theater in Beijing. The performance will also be heading out on a broader China tour this summer. Originally called Crazy Family, the show premiered at the National Theater of Korea in 2002 and has been performed in over 40 cities around the world to date.

Cara Han, the producer of Jump, told the Global Times in an e-mail interview that she feels the reason that many of China's action dramas fail to achieve expected results may be due to "the story not fitting the martial arts genre or vice versa, or the fact that some performances focus mainly on martial arts which eventually bores the audience.

"I believe that although Jump is a non-verbal performance, it has been able to succeed internationally due to the fact that it contains a well thought out story along with presenting the qualities of individual characters. Jump also represents Asia's martial arts working side-by-side with slapstick comedy. It is also to my belief that another reason for its success is that the different martial arts used by the family helps keep the audience interested."

For Han, Jump was "planned and made with no thought to separating Eastern and Western audiences." The success of Jump may offer an example for production companies in China that seek to take their action shows overseas. Presenting the concepts behind marital arts in a simple way that can bypass language barriers is probably the way to go instead of spending time boring audiences by trying to explain concepts such as yin-yang to audiences.

[GeneChing]

Cloud Gate Troupe Takes ‘Rice’ to Howard Gilman Opera House
By JACK ANDERSON SEPT. 9, 2015


Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan in Lin Hwai-min’s “Rice.” Credit Liu Chen Hsiang

When 24 dancers from the Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan step onto the stage in Lin Hwai-min’s “Rice,” they are metaphorically crossing a field in a tribute to their island’s essential agricultural crop.

Multicultural in its vision, Cloud Gate, one of Asia’s most important contemporary companies, is known for its deft mixtures of choreographic styles and theatrical effects. “Rice,” an attraction of this year’s Next Wave Festival, blends ballet, modern dance and martial arts; the bamboo poles that its performers carry variously represent agricultural implements, stalks and weapons. To prepare for “Rice,” a celebration of the cycle of planting and harvest, the cast spent time working with farmers in the fields.

Video projections sweep across landscapes and narrow in on details of plants to depict Taiwan’s rice-growing regions, and the accompaniment is a musical collage that encompasses Taiwanese folk songs and European lieder and operatic arias. (7:30 p.m., Sept. 16-19, Howard Gilman Opera House, bam.org.)

A version of this article appears in print on September 13, 2015, on page AR2 of the New York edition with the headline: The Stage Is Their Field

Hope it's not counterfeit rice.

[GeneChing]

Hui Ban Dance Drama
The Story of Anhui Opera Troupe During 1911
Saturday, October 10, 2015 7:00 PM PST
Herbst Theatre San Francisco, CA



Video Preview:



The Anhui Provincial Opera Dance Drama Theatre, one of China's leading theater organizations, travels to San Francisco to perform its award-winning dramatic dance production, "Hui Ban - The Story of Anhui Opera Troupe During 1911." The event will be presented by US Chinese Dance Association and sponsored by China National Arts Fund.

This colorful and dramatic dance production tells the tale of theater people during a series of extraordinary events that took place in 1911, the year of the Xinhai Revolution, by which China's final imperial dynasty (the Qing dynasty) was overthrown, the "Last Emperor" (the child Puyi) abdicated his throne, and the Republic of China was founded. The story focuses on brotherhood, love, conflicts, and the turbulence faced by those living and trying to keep tradition alive in a tumultuous time, particularly the passionate and determined opera singers whose artistic dreams will be swept away by fate.

You know this one is authentic because according to the promo vid, it's 'Award Wining'

[GeneChing]

Obligatory Chinese New Year shows. Needs a lion dance.

POSTED ON 01.19.2016 9:45 A.M.
Sino West Performing Arts to Showcase Kung Fu, Classical Dance at Chinese New Year Extravaganza


Sino West’s showcase will feature both Chinese classical and folk dances, as well as kung fu. (Sino West photo)
SOURCE: VICKI WANG FOR SINO WEST PERFORMING ARTS

Sino West Performing Arts, a dance and kung fu school in Goleta, is presenting a spectacular show in honor of Chinese New Year 2016, the year of the monkey: Chinese New Year Extravaganza.

The show will feature youth and adult students, professional instructors and performers, and special guest dancers performing traditional and folk Chinese dances and Shaolin kung fu and weaponry demonstrations.

Beautiful Chinese arts, colorful costumes and majestic music will take the stage at Elings Performing Arts Center at Dos Pueblos High School Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016.

A lot of people do not know about nor have seen Chinese dance and kung fu before, therefore this Chinese New Year Extravaganza show presents the opportunity to let the community see and celebrate diversity in performing arts.

Chinese dance is an ethnic dance style from China, utilizing Chinese music, costumes and stories. There are two kinds of Chinese dance: classical and folk, both of which will be showcased at the Chinese New Year Extravaganza show.

Classical Chinese dance is technically similar to ballet, but the style is more free flowing, expressive, flexible and acrobatic. Classical Chinese dance draws upon its centuries of history.

Its unique moves evolved and combined movements taken from ancient paintings, nature, Chinese opera and kung fu, and they usually tell a story or represent something of nature.

Common classical Chinese dances use flowing silk fans, long water sleeves or other props to enhance the movements and imagery of the stories.

Classical Chinese dances that will be performed during the Chinese New Year Extravaganza include “Hero,” a strong and athletic men’s dance telling the story of assassins after the Qin emperor of China; “Love Lotus,” a graceful yet acrobatic dance portraying the lovely lotus flower; “Spring Breeze,” utilizing a circular fan prevalent during the Tang Dynasty; and “Falling Rain,” a kids’ dance using silk fans and representing the spring rain bringing life to nature.

Folk Chinese dance are ethnic minority group dances that represent each minority tribe’s dance style. There are 56 officially recognized ethic groups in China, each with their own very distinct tribal costumes, music, movements and narratives. Most dances within a certain minority group have similar characteristics and are very different from the others.

For example, during the show, there will be an ethnic minority dance from Mongolia. Horse culture is very important in Mongolia, therefore the majestic music for the dance “Swan Geese” is distinct with the horsehead fiddle, a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument considered a symbol of the Mongolian nation, and the costumes look like those of horse riders.

The dancers portray swan geese, a rare large goose with a natural breeding range in inland Mongolia, returning home; representing Mongolian people who have traveled to the cities to work, yearning for their homeland.

One does not have to understand nor know the different regions of dances or the characteristics of the dances, they are just beautiful and entertaining to watch.

One additional dance of note that will be performed is “Jasmine Flowers,” a Chinese ballet blending East and West with mostly traditional ballet moves combined with silk fans, set to the popular Chinese folk song Mo Li Hua (茉莉花) from the 18th century.

All of the dances that will be showcased at the Chinese New Year Extravaganza are truly wonderful and portray the beauty, strength and exceptionality of Chinese dance.

Chinese kung fu is a form of martial arts emphasizing peace within oneself and with one’s enemy. It is a more defensive style of martial arts, while also being a very acrobatic, strong and flowing.

Shaolin kung fu is one of the earliest forms of Chinese martial arts and is often considered the birth of all martial art styles.

Similar to Chinese dance, there are centuries of history behind kung fu. It originates from the Shaolin Temple monks of Henan, China, where they developed kung fu for two reasons: 1) the monks were sometimes bullied because they are a passive and peaceful group and therefore needed a form of self defense, and 2) it is very cold in Henan and they needed to exercise and produce internal strength and heat.

Within kung fu, or “wushu,” there are many branches. There are forms that mimic animals, some very acrobatic, some low-impact like tai chi, styles for show, styles for practical fighting and more.

There so many aspects of Chinese kung fu that makes it interesting, practical, beneficial and beautiful as a form of art.

Kung fu was also made popular in Hollywood with masters such as Bruce Lee and Jet Li and more recently for children with Kung Fu Panda.

In Sino West’s Chinese New Year Extravaganza, you will see performances of kung fu and acrobatics skills, incredible weaponry exhibitions and exciting duels. Sino West is proud to present exciting kung fu to Santa Barbara.

The word Sino means “Chinese” and is pronounced “sī-,nō.” The studio is called Sino West because they are proud to excel in both Chinese and Western styles of performing arts.

Sino West is the only studio in Santa Barbara County that has Chinese performing arts, offering classes for kids and adults in acrobatics, ballet, Chinese dance, contemporary, hip hop, jazz, Zumba, yoga, tai chi, qi gong and kung fu. It aims to be a welcoming, fun, diverse and talented place for students of all ages, sizes, genders, nationalities and abilities.

Sino West is directed by Vicki Wang and Dragon Sun. Wang is a graduate of UCSB and grew up training in ballet, Chinese dance and gymnastics in the Silicon Valley of California.

As a young child, Chinese dance helped her connect to her Chinese culture in a fun, physical and beautiful way. Her love of dancing and her experience in business led to the opening of Sino West Performing Arts in Goleta in September of 2011.

Sun is a kung fu, acrobatics and Chinese dance master from Harbin, China. He started martial arts at the age of six and went on to a performing arts school, training day and night perfecting Chinese arts.

Sun then joined a professional performing arts troupe at the age of seventeen, touring the world performing a combination of martial arts acrobatics and Chinese culture.

He is a disciple of Shi Yongxin, the current abbott of Shaolin Temple. Wang and Sun met while performing with the Chinese Performing Artists of America, in San Jose, Calif. Since then they have been passionate about teaching, producing and introducing Chinese arts to all.

Both Wang and sun emphasize that you do not have to be Chinese to participate in Chinese dance or martial arts: Sino West has students of all ethnicities learning Chinese arts. Their students just love the art, the exercise and the confidence dance and kung fu provide them.

An exciting treat of the show is that the talented teachers and owners of Sino West studios will be showcasing as well. By taking the stage themselves and showing everyone, especially their students, what they can do is inspiring and will make the show fun and amazing.

Sino West invites everyone to come watch their Chinese New Year Extravaganza. It will be a beautiful and exciting show that Wang, Sun, and their students have been working very hard for and are very proud of.

Instructors and students alike would like to wish everyone 新年快乐, “Happy New Year.”

The show will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016, at Elings Performing Arts Center at Dos Pueblos High School.

Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 with student I.D. They will be on sale at Sino West studios, online or at the show.

For more information about Sino West, visit www.sinowestsb.com or contact 805.967.2983 or vicki@sinowestsb.com.

— Vicki Wang is the executive director of Sino West Performing Arts.

[GeneChing]

Cloud Gate: making dance out of martial arts and meditation
The Cloud Gate dance company occupies a unique place in Taiwanese society and its founder has become a national treasure. Nicholas Wroe talks to Lin Hwai-min as he brings a signature work to the UK


Songs of the Wanderers performed by Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan. Photograph: Yu Hui-hung
Nicholas Wroe Saturday 23 April 2016 02.00 EDT

The Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan arrives at Sadler’s Wells next month to give one of the last performances of its signature work. Songs of the Wanderers opens with the solitary, still figure of a Buddhist monk standing under a spotlit stream of falling rice. The stage gradually fills with over three tonnes of golden coloured grains – especially shipped in from Taiwan – which form into deep drifts to become the mountains, rivers and desert through which dancers slowly enact the rituals of pilgrimage. Although it draws on Buddhism, the imagery also encompasses more universal readings and the performance is accompanied by the rhythmic chantings of a Georgian choir.

So it is intriguing to learn that this work, depicting a timeless spiritual quest for “asceticism and quietude”, is a characteristic offering from a company that emerged from one of the most turbulent periods of modern Asian geopolitics. For decades following the end of China’s civil war in 1949 the Taiwanese regime led by Chiang Kai-shek had claimed to be the legitimate government of all China, but international recognition gradually eroded and in 1971 it was expelled from the United Nations. Cloud Gate founder Lin Hwai-min was studying in the United States at the time and found himself returning home to an island in which a whole generation were suddenly trying to discover who they were. “There was a lot of energy in literature and the visual arts,” he says. “When I set up Cloud Gate [named after an ancient Chinese dance] we were the first professional dance company. We felt part of a movement in search of its roots. In one respect the mission of the company was to explore what it is to be Taiwanese, as we knew so little about our own home.”


Wang Rong-yu in the part of the Monk in Songs of the Wanderers. Photograph: Yu Hui-hung

At the company’s new theatre, which opened last year on the outskirts of the capital Taipei, Lin gestures in the direction of the Chinese mainland, 110 miles across the Taiwan Straits. “What was important was over there”, he says. Well into the 80s Taiwanese children were taught about Beijing and the Great Wall and how long the Yangtze was. But, says Lin, “we had no idea about the rivers in Taiwan. It just wasn’t in the textbooks. Today you can go to a store and buy half a dozen books on the butterflies of Taiwan, but back then we had to explore for ourselves. City people travelled to the country to see the landscape, the farms, the rituals being carried out in front of the temples.”

Lin’s response was to develop a form of modern dance that, while open to western and other influences, was intrinsically indigenous in its movements and imagery. He notes the same comparisons between boxing and martial arts as between classical ballet and the work he wanted to produce. “In both boxing and ballet you’re tense all the time. In our dance, and in martial arts, you are relaxed in preparation for moments of great intensity. You make a gesture and then you subside again like a wave. And we don’t try to elevate and defy gravity. We submit to gravity and attempt to find a harmony with the earth. When we tour abroad the reaction is always the same for new western audiences. For five minutes they are a little confused and fidgety, and then they find the rhythm and become still themselves. This is not work projected out at an audience, it is work that draws an audience in.”

Cloud Gate occupies a unique space in Taiwanese culture and society. Its open-air summer shows attract audiences of up to 40,000 people. Its logo has appeared on the livery of China Airlines as well as on Taipei metro trains and buses. Lin, universally known as Mr Lin, has national treasure status and on the streets of Taipei is repeatedly stopped by people simply wanting to say “thank you” to him. He says he has become used to the attention and is proud that his work evokes such public warmth. But even he was taken aback when, as we talk at a secluded restaurant in the hills above Taipei, a fellow diner came over to his table to offer three days’ free treatment at a Shanghai hospital, if Mr Lin ever needed it.

Lin was born in Taiwan in 1947, the eldest of five children of Taiwanese parents who had been educated in Tokyo during Japanese control of the island. “We were brought up basically as Japanese kids with quite severe discipline,” he recalls. “My parents spoke Japanese. We knelt on tatami. I was a mixture to begin with. A multicultural *******.” His parents brought western, Japanese and Chinese culture into the home. They had pictures of Goethe and Beethoven on the wall and he enjoyed Japanese tales, songs and Samurai films. By his teens Lin was also into Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald and Jackson Pollock. “We were from a village in the south, and although a gentry family we were familiar with the land and rice paddies. That was a part of me too.”

There was a hunger for dance. Whether we drew on folk tales or history, it was all part of our aud*ience’s lives

Despite this interest in the arts, it was always assumed Lin would go into a profession and he duly studied law at university. But within a year he had switched to journalism, for which he felt better suited having been contributing to magazines since the age of 14. “I always had more pocket money than other kids to buy books or go to movies.” He then went to study in America and won a scholarship to the renowned writers’ workshop in Iowa. When he eventually returned to Taiwan he taught creative writing and journalism and published several novels. But more significantly, it was in America that Lin began a serious engagement with dance.

His interest was first sparked at the age of five, when he saw the Powell and Pressburger film version of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale about a ballerina, The Red Shoes, on TV. (Matthew Bourne has just announced that he will be choreographing a new stage version of the story this year). In America Lin began to take modern dance classes, including at the Martha Graham school in New York. When he returned to Taiwan in 1971 he met some young dancers, who wanted him to teach them. “Then of course they wanted to perform, and so in 1973 Cloud Gate began. We had to pay for so many things I was on the verge of a breakdown after the first season,” he says. “But fortunately we were young and stupid. If we had been sophisticated and calculating we never would have started.”

The company caught the public imagination from the outset, selling out its first two performances in a 3,000 seat venue. “There was a hunger for dance and we connected with people by doing our own thing. This wasn’t Swan Lake. Whether we drew on folk tales or history or calligraphy, it was all recognisably part of our audience’s lives.” Lin prided himself on being a “garbage can of a choreographer”, picking things up from India, Europe and elsewhere in Asia as well as from home. “And we were isolated here and that was wonderful. In New York or London there are giants with long shadows. Here I just had to dig to find the things around me.”

Over the years he has instigated innovative forms of training and preparation for his dancers. Songs of the Wanderers, which was first performed 22 years ago, came out of a trip Lin took to Bodh Gaya in India, the place where the Buddha attained his enlightenment. Although Lin had been brought up as a Buddhist, the journey, and the realisation that Buddha “was not a god, he was a simple human being who had great compassion and that is why he figured out this philosophy about life”, had a profound impact on Lin’s life and work. He had already asked his dancers to work in rice fields to prepare for roles and now he suggested meditation. “We went on to use martial arts, and qigong, an ancient breathing exercise, in our daily training. At first the dancers hated it. They wanted to do pirouettes and jumps. But I asked them to just stand there and drop their eyes and eventually we came up with the work.”

continued next post

[GeneChing]

Cloud Gate founder Lin Hwai-min. Photograph: Alamy

The 24 dancers of the company have all come through the Taiwanese system that provides dance classes alongside regular schooling. “From the very beginning we didn’t want performances to be monopolised by the elite,” he explains. “The great majority of our dancers are ordinary kids. Our performances – particularly the big outdoor performances around the country – are a gift and an endorsement and an expectation from the public. And the dancers are connected to the society because it is made up of their cousins and neighbours and parents, even when we are performing in the country to farmers and melon sellers.”

These outdoor performances have also had a wider impact on Taiwanese life. When there were mass political demonstrations the organisers drew on Cloud Gate’s experience of stewarding, providing toilets and so on. “After our performances there is never a scrap of litter left,” says Lin. “When there were political demonstrations it was the same.” Public support for the company was also demonstrated when its studio and offices burned down in 2008. Without Cloud Gate having to launch a formal appeal, 4,500 private donors – there was no government money – contributed over $20m to build it a new home. “This is how we keep going,” says Lin. “We don’t have a big grants. It is a people’s company and a people’s theatre.”

The company is also democratic in its makeup, with dancers ranging in age from 22 to 52. The oldest member, Wang Wei-ming, originated one of the key roles in Songs of the Wanderers and, after leaving the company to teach at university, contacted Lin asking if he could dance the part again before the show itself is retired. “I was very happy for him to do this, but I wanted him to show me that he was still capable and not kidding himself. So he gave us all a dry version and the other dancers just stood and applauded. At 52 he was dancing better than many of them. There was a real substance to the work.” Lin sees those same qualities in dancers who have become mothers, and he encourages them to return to the stage. “They not only have such awareness of their bodies, motherhood itself gives them a perspective about life that comes through in their dance.”


Songs of the Wanderers. Photograph: Yu Hui-hung

Another long standing – literally – member of the cast is Wang Rong-yu who originated the part of the Monk. “He had no dance background, but is a practitioner of qigong, and I saw him walk into a room and knew he could do it.” His performance, standing nearly motionless for 70 minutes, is a remarkable display of strength, control and concentration. “He is also now into his 50s and that’s partly why I have to wrap this up,” says Lin. “He is so beautiful to look at, but I don’t want to torture him any more, so the work will be performed for one more season in Taiwan and then retired.”

Lin says that he intends to retire too. “The company will go on, even if that doesn’t necessarily mean with my own works. I wouldn’t want it to become a museum. When we began we wanted to perform to, and connect with, the grassroots. Forty three years later we are still doing that, which makes me very happy. This building is the completion of the first stage of my retirement. It is a house to shelter younger artists who can carry on the work. The existence of the company is an accumulation of the energy from society. So long as we maintain that supply of energy, the torch will always continue to burn.”

• Cloud Gate will perform Songs of the Wanderers at Sadler’s Wells, London EC1, 4-7 May (sadlerswells.com), then at the international dance festival, Birmingham, 10-11 May. idfb.co.uk.

Meditation as performance.

[GeneChing]

...yet amusing enough to be posted here.

[GeneChing]

Shaolin comedy?

Review: ‘Incident at Hidden Temple,’ a Noir Too Far
INCIDENT AT HIDDEN TEMPLE Off Broadway, Drama, Mystery/Thriller, Play 2 hrs. Closing Date: February 12, 2017 Theatre Row - Harold Clurman Theatre, 410 W. 42nd St. 212-239-6200
By ELISABETH VINCENTELLIJAN. 26, 2017


Ying Ying Li and Tim Liu in “Incident at Hidden Temple,” a new play from Damon Chua. Credit John Quincy

A striking scene in “Incident at Hidden Temple” coolly captures the allure of vintage film noir: A woman (Rosanne Ma) listens to a radio broadcast in a room bathed in chiaroscuro shadows, light seeping in through Venetian blinds. A frisson of mysterious danger hovers in the air. So much is suggested in a few seconds that the lighting designer, Pamela Kupper, should share authorship with the playwright, Damon Chua.

Unfortunately, this second-act opener is too brief and too late to save Mr. Chua’s new play, directed by Kaipo Schwab for Pan Asian Repertory.

In addition to mood, noir is famous for labyrinthine plots (please raise your hand if you have figured out “The Big Sleep”), but the one here is just muddled. As with his previous effort, “Film Chinois,” Mr. Chua takes us to 1940s China. This time, he found inspiration in World War II footnotes, such as Ernest Hemingway’s 1941 trip there and the actions of the Flying Tigers, American pilots who fought the Japanese alongside the Chinese Air Force.

Mr. Chua, however, is less interested in historical facts than in genre tropes. This alone makes the show stand out in our naturalistic contemporary theater, but, alas, he did not stop at thriller and also went for melodrama, romance, spy mystery, political yarn and supernatural fable.

The last inspired the title, which refers to a mystical temple that appears “to men and women who are pure of heart,” as a mischievous blind man (Dinh James Doan) informs a pair of sisters. The older, Ava (Ying Ying Li), finds herself entangled with a Flying Tiger named Walter (Tim Liu), whose gee-**** attitude may conceal something shady, or simply be wooden acting.

A lot happens over the course of two hours, including a plot development reminiscent of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but with a Buddhist artifact. Yet what dominate are lengthy exposition and stilted dialogue. “I’m trained in kung fu, just to let you know,” Walter warns before fisticuffs — in the process adding Shaolin comedy to the show’s laundry list of genres.

Incident at Hidden Temple
Theatre Row - Harold Clurman Theatre
410 W. 42nd St.
Midtown West
212-239-6200
theatrerow.org

Category Off Broadway, Drama, Mystery/Thriller, Play Runtime 2 hrs. Credits Written by Damon Chua; Directed by Kaipo Schwab Cast James Henry Doan, Rosanne Ma, Nick Ryan, Ying Ying Li, Tim Liu, Jonathan Miles, Briana Sakamoto Preview January 21, 2017 Opened January 26, 2017 Closing Date February 12, 2017
Upcoming Shows
Saturday January 28 7:30 PM
Sunday January 29 2:30 PM
Tuesday January 31 7:30 PM
Wednesday February 1 2:30 PM
Wednesday February 1 7:30 PM
This information was last updated: Jan. 27, 2017
Incident at Hidden Temple
Through Feb. 12 at the Clurman Theater at Theater Row, Manhattan; 212-239-6200, panasianrep.org. Running time: 2 hours.

A version of this review appears in print on January 27, 2017, on Page C2 of the New York edition with the headline: A Noir Mood in Wartime China.

[GeneChing]

French-Algerian dance company combines martial arts, hip hop and modern dance


Compagnie Hervé Koubi will perform “What the Day Owes to the Night” at the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Saturday, April 22, 2017. Their trademark aesthetic combines martial arts,break dancing, acrobatics and modern dance. (Photo by Didier Philispart)

By KAITLIN WRIGHT | kwright@scng.com | Orange County Register
April 15, 2017 at 10:00 am

In 2009, 249 male dancers and one female dancer met in Algiers, Algeria, to audition for an up-and-coming French choreographer Hervé Koubi. The performers who showed up to the casting call were mostly self taught as there are no formal dance schools in Algeria, Koubi said.

“(The dancers) train outside, on beaches, in courtyards, in the street, thanks to videos (on) the internet,” said Koubi in an email interview. “Most of the dancers I met had a good level in dance, especially in hip-hop, break dance and Capoeira.”

Since then, Koubi has taken these street styles and blended them with modern dance and acrobatics to create the company’s trademark aesthetic — one that boasts 15-foot trust falls, b-boy head spins and double back flips.

Athletic prowess aside, Koubi said that the meaning of the work is more important than the spectacle. The tricks and turns just happen to be the vehicle his dancers use to convey the emotions of the piece which, in the case of their performance at the Irvine Barclay Theatre on April 22, explores Koubi’s ancestral past.

“Ce que le joir doit à la nuit” (“What the Day Owes to the Night”) was created by Koubi after he found out that his family was from Algeria, not France like he was led to believe for 25 years.

“One day I asked my father ‘Where do my parents come from? Which part of France?’ And that day my father showed me a picture of an old man dressed in Arabic style,” said Koubi. “My father told me, ‘Here is your great grandfather. He spoke only Arabic and it’s the same for all your great grandparents.’ That was a shock for me. I was not from France, but from Algeria.”

Koubi said he started creating “What the Day Owes to the Night” that day.



Although the project’s title matches a book by Yasmina Khadra about an Algerian boy who is sent to live with his affluent uncle in a colonial town, Koubi was not inspired by this text, nor was he trying to replicate it.

“For this project I wanted to make light in the darkness of my history. I wanted to make day in the night of my past and the only thing I can tell you is that the piece couldn’t have another name,” said Koubi.

Despite disassociating his dance work with this novel, though, Koubi said there are similarities between himself and the main character that he can’t deny — the most unexpected parallel being that both Koubi and the boy in the novel are chemists with an interest in pharmacy.

In fact, Koubi completed his doctorate in pharmacology and clinical biology at the University of Aix-en-Provence before he decided that the appeal for dance was too strong for him to resist.

Koubi jokes that his parents were “not too upset” with his turn from medicine to dance given that he was soon awarded the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture in 2015.

“I always preferred to have the position of author. I really liked to exchange with the audience, to share my thoughts, and I decided to use the dance medium to express myself,” said Koubi. “Choreography is like an open book for me.”

The upcoming performance of “What the Day Owes to the Night” is an evening-length production set to devotional Sufi music, Bach’s “St. John’s Passion” and a re-orchestration of Algerian composer Hamza El Din’s “Escalay” as performed by the Kronos Quartet.

Regarding his musical selection, Koubi said, “I wanted to build bridges between the European culture I grew in and my roots that are from the other side of the Mediterranean Sea.”

These roots have flourished since Koubi connected with the Algerian dancers, men who he calls his “found brothers.”

Said Koubi: “I had to give life to my orientalist dreams, I had to do it through dance with dancers from Algeria. … I just would like the audience to be moved by what they saw and invite them to share my vision of a global culture, of a brotherhood beyond the frontiers and back.”

‘What the Day Owes to the Night’

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, April 22

Where: Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine

Tickets: $40-$100

Info: thebarclay.org

Kaitlin Wright has been covering arts for the Register since 2013. She writes about professional dance in Orange County as well as high school dance, music, theater and visual arts for the Varsity Arts section. She is also an occasional contributor to OC Home Magazine and regularly assists Coast Magazine, the Press Telegram and the Register with events listings. Kaitlin lived in Albuquerque, Las Vegas and the Antelope Valley before moving to Orange County for college. She holds degrees in dance and literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine.

I luv Hamza El Din & Kronos Quartet (although I miss Joan Jeanrenaud).

[GeneChing]

I only copied the first item in this article because it was the only one relevant.

A world of arts: from kung fu to ‘I Ching’
Source: Agencies | 00:00 UTC+8 October 21, 2017 | PRINT EDITION


Martial Art in Dance

‘Martial Art in Dance’

Choreographer Zhao Liang will premiere his latest creation “Martial Art in Dance,” which involves kung fu, during the 19th Shanghai International Arts Festival on October 20-21.

Four young contemporary dancers and three martial artists will put on an intense show of sabre play, sword play, cudgel play and tai chi at the Lyceum Theater.

It is one of Zhao’s many experiments in exploring contemporary dance based on traditional Chinese arts and philosophy. His other well-known experiments include “The Dreams of Zen,” “Escaping from the Temple” and “The Tea Spell.”

“I always believe that there is no impassable boundary among different arts,” says Zhao. “Martial arts, although widely taken as an athletic sport, actually has a rich cultural legacy worth developing in art.”

Zhao says “martial arts” and “dance” both follow the law of the universe and are also deeply connected with the human body and spirituality.

With the theme of “intoxication, exaltation and simplification,” Zhao chose a simple stage setting of only black, gray and white for the work. Crossover music with elements such as minimalism, cello and Chinese pipa (Chinese lute) is used to portray the clash between contemporary and traditional features.



Date: October 21, 7:30pm

Tickets: 180-580 yuan

Venue: Lyceum Theater

Address: 57 Maoming Rd S.

[GeneChing]

NOV 20, 2017 @ 11:00 PM 739 The Little Black Book of Billionaire Secrets
China Exporting Its First Open-Ended Musical to Broadway
Marc Hershberg , CONTRIBUTOR
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.


The cast of 'Soul of Shaolin' perform at the Marquis Theatre on January 15, 2009 (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

Along with the latest gizmos and gadgets, China might soon export a Broadway show.

Earlier this month, Shanghai Heng Yuan Xiang Drama Development Company, a Chinese theatrical production firm, signed a memorandum of understanding with Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment to mount the first open-ended Chinese musical on Broadway. It is scheduled to begin performances in 2019.

The ambitious new musical, which is named Shimmer, shines on a spotlight on when Shanghai sheltered 20,000 Jewish refugees escaping Nazi persecution during the Second World War. Similar the popular Broadway musical Come From Away, recounting how a small town in Newfoundland welcomed thousands of stranded travelers after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the Chinese show underscores the therapeutic power of human kindness during dark times.

"Through this drama, the audience can feel the charm of Chinese culture," remarked Sean Stein, the consul general at the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai. "With this play being shown on Broadway in the future, the ties between the Chinese people and Americans will be firmly strengthened," he observed.

Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment, which is not a part of the renowned Nederlander Organization which operates 29 theaters around the world, has been working to establish ties between Broadway and China ever since it was created in 2000. Robert Nederlander, Sr., the father of the founder, served as a Regent at the University of Michigan, and headed the first delegation of American scholars to China in an effort to thaw international tensions in 1976.

“My father’s interests were diplomacy and reestablishing academic connections,” stated his son, Robert Nederlander, Jr. in 2015. “My interest was exploring commercial opportunities,” he said.

Its first Chinese venture on Broadway, Soul of Shaolin, was a special theatrical event that featured Buddhist monks performing martial arts. The limited engagement earned less than $1.3 million over the course of three weeks in 2009, and one critic wrote that it “ultimately seems a pretty cheap enterprise.” It could not compare to the entertainment on other stages in New York.

With plenty of time remaining to tweak Shimmer, its producers are hoping that critics will be a little more welcoming when the show reaches Broadway. “In the next two years, our team will polish the story and the performance to Broadway standards, providing the audience with the highest level of musical art," promised Chen Zhongwei, the president of the Shanghai-based theatrical production firm.

A new Live Theatrical show related to Soul of Shaolin

[GeneChing]

I think I'd like this.

Shiv Yin: Must-watch mix of Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Tai Chi, and contemporary Chinese dance
Shiv Yin is a first of its kind dance performance featuring Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Tai Chi and contemporary Chinese dance, choreographed and performed by an India-China collective.
Ananth Krishnan
December 15, 2017 | UPDATED 18:45 IST



It took just one performance of the Beijing Contemporary Dance Company (BCDC) in Delhi to convince Rukmini Chatterjee, a dancer and choreographer of 27 years' experience, that the future lies in India and China.

"The power of their art forms, the expressions not just of their bodies but of their faces, it was so similar to our own Kathak and Bharatanatyam," recalls Chatterjee, who decided to travel to China to see what would happen when two ancient art forms are brought together.

The result is Shiv Yin, a first of its kind dance performance featuring Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Tai Chi and contemporary Chinese dance, choreographed and performed by an India-China collective, including Chatterjee, Chinese choreographer Teng Aimin, Kathak dancer Kantika Mishra, Bharatanatyam dancer Souraja Tagore and dancers from the BCDC.

Shiv Yin debuted to a curious Beijing audience in November. Chatterjee is pleased with the experiment, but says this is just the first step. "What I'd like to do in my own small way is sow the seeds of understanding and help foster closeness when it comes to creativity between India and China," she says. "This is a beautiful love story that traverses the emotions of love, anger, jealousy and ultimate union, through a vibrant interpretation of classical Indian and contemporary Chinese dance forms."

It explores the concept of male and female, of yin and yang, from the point of view of two traditions, drawing on classical Indian and Chinese poetry as well.

Chatterjee says her time in Beijing working on the performance was eye-opening. She was impressed by the Chinese desire to learn Indian art forms, and found Chinese dancers in some ways more receptive to new ideas than dancers she has worked with in India and Europe. Despite the gaps in culture and language, there was also a surprising familiarity, she says. "At our first recital of Vedic mantras," she recalls, "there was an immediate connection to Buddhist sutras."

After touring China in November, Shiv Yin will travel to India in December, and will be performed on December 16 and 17 at the Serendipity Festival, Goa; December 19 at Alliance Francaise, Hyderabad; and December 22 at Shri Ram Centre, New Delhi.

[GeneChing]

Because tutus and tabi go well together?

NINJA BALLET Returns - A Fusion Of Martial Arts With Classical Ballet
by BWW News Desk Jun. 5, 2018



NINJA BALLET Returns - A Fusion Of Martial Arts With Classical BalletAward-winning ballerina, choreographer and Artistic Director Shoko Tamai returns with her company of five dancers and martial artists for the 2018 Season of NINJA BALLET at The Secret Theatre, 4402 23rd Street, Long Island City, NY. The company will present five performances, from Thursday, June 28 through Sunday, July 1. The company's new work, "MA," the Japanese word for negative space, will premiere. Live music.

Founded in 2017, Ninja Ballet Dance Company fuses classical ballet with traditional martial arts, creating an immersive and interactive dance theater performance with original music, special effects and fight choreography. Performers blur the line between what is real and what is possible, using acrobatics, fire and weapons, with new technologies helping to facilitate an interactive theater experience. Ninja Ballet seeks to reconnect people with nature and to create a space where dance, music and visual arts merge as one. "We hope to inspire mindful awareness, forming a connection between nature and humanity," says Ms. Tamai.

Live musical accompaniment for Ninja Ballet 2018 Summer Season will be provided by six artists: William Catanzaro on percussion (including Shiva Drum,) Alfonso Montiel on Singing Bowl and Gong, Michael Joseph Burdi on flute and Oud, Kento Iwasaki Watanabe on Koto (traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument,) Edwin Rodriguez (percussion, Indian Drum and Native American flute,) and Vladimir Demin on Handpan Drum.

The production features dance choreography by Shoko Tamai, with dancers Rezy Pardito, Nellie Licul, Kirsten Reynolds, Pan Yu and Edward Reyes; fight choreography by martial arts expert Tony Ortiz.

NINJA BALLET
SUMMER 2018 SEASON
THE SECRET THEATRE
4402 23RD STREET
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY 11101

TICKETS - https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3394261
$30 online $35 at door
Phone: (718) 392-0722

PERFORMANCE DATES & TIMES:

June 28: 7:30pm
June 29: 7:30pm
June 30: 2:30pm
June 30: 7:30pm
July 1: 7:30pm

* ABOUT "MA":

'MA', a Japanese word for Negative Space, or the space between time, occurring in the moment of "Now," and in the imagination of the human being who experiences these elements. Ninja Ballet Dance Company will explore the concept of 'MA' and how it relates to the ancient Mayan legend of Zopilote, a Vulture God who feasts on the newborn.

Zopilote lives in balance between life and death, consuming the dead and giving birth to new life. When Zopilote devours the child of Subaru, a female Ninja, she creates a mortal enemy: a broken-hearted mother who will do anything to exact her revenge. Subaru makes it her mission to find and kill Zopilote, but at the same moment, in the Negative Space, she herself is being hunted by Scorpion, a Ninja assassin set on finding and killing her in retribution for her clan's murder of his own parents.

The cycle of revenge will unfold and blood will be spilled. Will Subaru find peace in her vengeance? Will Scorpion finally get retribution for the crimes of Subaru's clan against his own? Will Zopilote, the ancient and powerful Vulture God of the Mayans, allow the balance of life and death to be broken, or will they all learn the power of forgiveness and finally bury their hatred in the past? All will be answered in the space between time, the moment of Now, the Negative Space!

ABOUT SHOKO TAMAI:

Shoko Tamai has performed in leading venues and dance companies around the world, including the Royal Opera House in London, Lincoln Center, and Jacob's Pillow. She received the Solo Seal award from the Royal Academy of Dance in London and was a finalist in the World Ballet Competition. She studied with Jamie HJ Guan, martial arts trainer from Beijing Opera. Ms. Tamai performed with Dance Theater of Harlem, and with Cirque du Soleil at its inception.

Shoko Tamai has been endorsed by world leading artists, including Arthur Mitchell, Founder of Dance Theatre of Harlem and Keith Saunders (Artistic Director, Dance Theatre of Harlem Touring Company), Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil and Abdel Salaam, choreographer at Forces of Nature Dance Theater.

In addition to teaching ballet and other styles of dance from ages 2-86, Shoko Tamai serves as director of "Cosmic Dance Healing," the practice of exchanging negative energy to positive energy via movement and awareness. Her regular classes at the Montauk Salt Cave, Cosmic Arts in Brooklyn, Studio Oasis in Chinatown, The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) and the Brooklyn Academy Of Music satisfy her "sincerest intention to use dance to help heal the world and its people, one happy student at a time."

THREADS:
Martial Arts in Live Theater
Ninjas!

[GeneChing]

Wushu show with a twist
METRO NEWS
Wednesday, 18 Jul 2018

BE prepared to be mesmerised by a wushu performance like no other at an opera show titled ‘War of the Red Cliff’ in Penang.

A total of 300 wushu exponents will be acting out the battle known as the Battle of Chibi which was fought at the end of the Han dynasty.

The performance, organised by Ding Feng Wushu Academy, will be held at Dewan Sri Pinang on Sunday.

Ding Feng Wushu Academy co-founder Vincent Khor said they had never planned such a large-scale show before.


Performers of the ‘War of the Red Cliff’ opera show will enact battle scenes in unique costumes.

“The exponents are acting out the war, which is different from what is usually expected from a wushu performance.

“They will perform the battle scenes clad in unique costumes.

“It will be a one-of-a kind performance as we are trying something different from the usual traditional wushu moves.

“We hope the show will shed light on the martial art,” he said.

Tickets are priced at RM50 for the student show at 2pm and RM60 and RM80 for the 7pm show which is open to everyone.

For further details and tickets, contact Khor (016-4852925), Sandy (016-4926090) or Jack (012-4619154).

THREADS:
Martial Arts in Live Theater
Romance of the Three Kingdoms

[GeneChing]

‘The Chinese Warriors of Peking’ bring martial arts drama to Rialto
By Tacoma Weekly Staff - September 6, 2018

The Chinese Warriors of Peking are bringing their acrobatic and visually spectacular show to the stage of Tacoma’s Rialto Theater on Thursday, Sept. 20, 7:30 p.m. Hailing from China, the ensemble will perform thrilling physical feats fused with traditional Chinese customs to deliver high-intensity martial arts and breathtaking acrobatics. Set during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), this is the tale of two rival martial arts disciplines competing in the ancient Chinese capital of Peking. Under the direction of Qui Jian, this performance provides a culturally enriching experience filled with juggling, acrobatics, and live stage combat.

The troupe will act out a narrative from the history of China: Peking was the capital of the Ming Dynasty between 1368 and 1644. Once year, the emperor held a royal martial arts tournament in Peking, inviting warriors from all over the country to attend. In Tianqiao Square, large crowds were drawn to witness the warriors demonstrating their impressive skill. Every school and discipline of Martial Arts arrived in Peking from all over China. Before the tournament began, the crowd in Tianqiao Square was kept entertained by the Peking Opera girls performing with yo-yos and acrobats giving performances in juggling and contortion. Then, the drums and trumpets sounded as the emperor arrived. “Long live his Majesty!” the crowd chanted as the emperor announced the beginning of the tournament.

All of the different martial arts schools competed in the ring utilizing their various disciplines, techniques, and weapons to thwart their opponents. After several rounds of combat, the two schools left standing were the Shoalin and Wudang warriors. The final round was grueling and tense. The warriors were evenly matched but ultimately the Wudang warriors were struck down and defeated. The emperor rose, stopping the tournament and announced the Shaolin warriors as the winners. The Wudang warriors confronted the Shoalin warriors uproariously in the middle of the ring, dissatisfied with the outcome of the tournament. To settle the tension, the emperor promised that in next year’s tournament, he will offer the Shaolin and Wudang warriors an opportunity to compete exclusively with each other. The Shaolin warriors left Peking hailing their victory while the Wudang warriors vowed to seek revenge and defeat the Shaolin warriors next year.

A year passes as the next royal martial arts tournament finally arrives. It is held at the front square of the royal palace. The emperor arrived very early escorted by a group of female guards. They rode on horses, decorated in magnificent armor with spears in hand. They are followed by an acrobatic families’ presentation of Pagoda of Bowls and Icarian acts keeping the crowd, and the emperor, entertained before the tournament begins.

The emperor announced the beginning of the tournament and the special campaign between the Shaolin and Wudang warriors. Wudang warriors fought hard to seek their revenge as the two schools battled with breathtaking intensity. Ultimately, the contest ended in a draw. Frustrated by the outcome, the Wudang suggested a challenge of their own to determine the winner: one of their warriors must balance atop of four spears to be crowned the victor. The Shaolin warrior passed – the Wudang warriors can’t believe in their eyes. With the sound of drums, the frustrated Wudang prepared to attack the Shoalin once more. Unexpectedly, the emperor jumped into the ring, restraining the Wudang warriors by hitting their acupoints and rendering them motionless. To diffuse the tension once more, the emperor announced that he required both schools to be his royal warriors of Peking and defenders of the peace to the dynasty. The Martial Arts tournament ended as the two schools are appointment to defend the city of Peking together.

Tickets are $29, $39 and $49. For information, visit http://www.broadwaycenter.org/events...iors-of-peking or www.facebook.com/events/1856608841025984.

THREADS:
Martial Arts in Live Theater
Interesting Shaolin Monk show