"365 ways to doing and undoing Orientalism", choreographed by Willy Tsao, Sang Jijia and Xing Liang, for the City Contemporary Dance Company is a vivacious " Tong Sing" on stage.
"Tong Sing" is the Chinese Book of Wisdom, which tells you how to understand the Taoist philosophy. The dance piece is divided into 3 parts, "Earth, Water, Fire, Wind", " Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter", and " Nothingness, Humankind, Heaven, Void". I may interpret this 3 themes as the elements, the seasons and Qi (vital energy or spirit) and meditation, which all are taken from Tong Sing.
In the first act, "Earth, Water, Fire, Wind", which are " the materials made up the universe". The Buddhists regards them as "sida" ( the four elements) but the Taoist refers them as "wuxing" .(the fire elements) Whether it is the four elements or the five elements, both of them represent the influence on the everyday affairs of the Chinese. However, " the elements are not material and bear only a slight resemblance to reality. Generally in this context, fire is not real fire, water is not real water and so on. ( Tong Sing: P.67)
On stage, it is raining heavily and there is a blazing fire on a clod of earth.Though on the pamphlet, we see the dancers, Jay Jen Loo, Chan Yi Jing and Sang Jijia disguise as the Earth, Water and Wind respectively, I may get the idea of wholeness of them. The materials already symbolize the elements and the dancers may just a part of them. For example, the movement of the dancers makes a windy space so I may declare that the dancers are associated with all the elements.
Near the end of this act, a group of ladies with Chinese stomachers, a crowd of strange dancers with Chinese soldiers wearing and ballet skirts and a dancers disguised as Japanese warrior enter one by one. They enter this "sida" or "wuxing" space without regarding "the elements". Also "the elements" do not care about their intervention. As this moment, it opens up 2 rooms of space. It seems that they exist independently but influentially. This intricate situation shows the origins of the elements are shrouded in mystery.
"Earth and sky meet,
four seasons merge,
wind and rain are gatheres in,
and yin (-) and yang (+) are in harmony."
The four seasons exemplify the harmony of yin and yang. Summer, which is hot, is the complementary opposite of winter, which is cold. Spring is the symbol of growth, vice versa autumn , which is the season of decline. " The order and harmony throughout the universe are maintained by the perpetual state of balance between these opposing force." The choreographers used the following means to let us know more about the seasons.
Autumn is the season of decline, which has the nature of yin. The defensive nature of weapons is just fit to be used to explain the idea of decline. Flag, knife, sword and spear are implemented to show the yin side of declined autumn. Hence, The use of Chinese opera clothing --phoenix cap, long sleeves and long hair, highlights the significance of yin nature too-passivity, weakness and decline, because they belong to the feminine (yin).
Spring, which is growth. The Chinese musical instruments are used to celebrate the growth. The fans (扇) are the sign of instigation (煽動), stirs up the mood of joy. Red umbrellas and flower guide us to the fantasy of Chinese wedding. Lastly, lion dance, mask and dragon dance are the symbol of the bliss of Chinese New Year.
Then the dancers turn to the hot and lively Summer. The redness brings the fervid mood and passion. Twisting on the bed, the male and female dancers put the redness in climax. The fervid feeling is stirred by the swinging red ribbons. After the ecstatic affection, the parade of all the means to give a calm and cold winter time.
At the last section, the leaves-less willows stick up on stage with dim light. It provides a Zen garden for meditation. The practice of meditation is for building up Qi (vital energy or spirit), which is " the origin and regulation of life, birth, growth and change, the law obeyed by all the myriad things of both earth and the heavens." The new form of Chinese words projected on the floor and the illusion of video projection are the tricks. They inspire the idea of every combination with every means and with nothingness.
For the whole piece of dance, the concrete materials are used to show the " ways of doing and undoing orientalism". Anyway, the poetic images animate with a desire to re-think our surroundings. Maybe, the red pamphlet is just a first encounter of the Chinese Book of Wisdom and the oriental matters!
本網站內一切內容之版權均屬國際演藝評論家協會（香港分會）及原作者所有，未經本會及/或原作者書面同意，不得轉載。