On Jan 31, nunu kong and Dai Jian taught workshops and gave a public showing in Bancroft Studio. At the end of nunu's workshop that led us explore ways of choreographing space, she talked about her conception of the space-time relationship: space contains time, time creates rhythm, rhythm forms patterns, and patterns produce space. In her showing, duration and repetition abound, refracting the mundane and the gestural into idiosyncratic rhythms and tempos. She talked about time in Shanghai, took off her watch, put it on again, and listened to it, closely, for a long time. Momentarily, she interacted with the audience, traversing habitual bounds between the performer and the spectator, as the ordinary became estranged in the ongoing space-time permutations.
Dai Jian's workshop on the duet form explored the interchange between the passive and the active. Dai seemed to stress more the feeling of the passive and modes of listening during the partnering exercises (to my curiosity and delight). In his showing, he layered spontaneous dancing with improvisational speech switching between English and Mandarin, which then gave way to a caesura where he stripped himself and put his clothes on a skeleton and began to massage his own back. As the sharp fragrance of his massage oil still lingered, he put on another piece of long shirt and opened up a new section of dancing filled with many mesmerizing moments.
It was enlightening and thought-provoking to experience and witness nunu kong's and Dai Jian's art practices. Harboring divergent aesthetics and transnational experiences, they are charting out new possibilities of contemporary dance. I look forward to seeing how their works will evolve!
(Photo: Megan Lowe)
Dai Jian's workshop on the duet form explored the interchange between the passive and the active. Dai seemed to stress more the feeling of the passive and modes of listening during the partnering exercises (to my curiosity and delight). In his showing, he layered spontaneous dancing with improvisational speech switching between English and Mandarin, which then gave way to a caesura where he stripped himself and put his clothes on a skeleton and began to massage his own back. As the sharp fragrance of his massage oil still lingered, he put on another piece of long shirt and opened up a new section of dancing filled with many mesmerizing moments.
It was enlightening and thought-provoking to experience and witness nunu kong's and Dai Jian's art practices. Harboring divergent aesthetics and transnational experiences, they are charting out new possibilities of contemporary dance. I look forward to seeing how their works will evolve!
(Photo: Megan Lowe)