I'd been wanting to see the Nai-Ni Chen Dance
Company for years, but it wasn't until last weekend that I finally made
the trek out to Newark to see the company celebrate the Chinese New Year
with their production Year of the Serpent. The program was a wonderful
mix of traditional Chinese dancing, music and opera combined with a new
contemporary piece, Whirlwind, which received its world premiere this
year. The dancers moved seamlessly between the different dance styles.
It was very generous and helpful of the company to have provided the
audience with detailed descriptions of the history and inspiration for
each dance, along with narratives about the peoples and customs of the
different regions of China from where these dances come.
The
performance opened with a piece called Double Lions Welcoming Spring
which tells the story of trust built between young children and
ferocious lions. The dance is intended as a prayer for peace and
harmony in the coming year. Playful and often funny (such as when the
lion forgets himself on stage and nibbles on his own foot, or throws in
an extra cabriole before exiting the stage) the dance includes dazzling
acrobatics and tumbling sequences. Each lion is played by two men who
do an amazing job of making the beast's back ripple in feline fashion,
or making it rear back on its hind legs. The Chinese folk costumes and
the design of the lion are so beautifully done.
In Song of the Water Lily, dancer Ying Shi
embodies the beauty and purity of a young girl. She carries a fan
ornamented with a lovely billowing scarf which resembles a flower petal.
The lighting and music create the atmosphere of a lily pond, down to
the sound of water droplets and bird songs spliced in with the
traditional folk music. There is a wide sweep of movement, from
luscious slow and controlled extensions and port des bras, to a rapid
success of turns executed while spotting the floor. The dance is at
once ornate and colorful as it is earthy and primal.
Another traditional piece, arranged by Ms. Chen,
was the rousing Coin Stick Dance. Bamboo sticks filled with coins
create a host of different rattling sounds as they are tapped against
shoulders, hips and floor, or twirled like batons. The dance was
presented as an ensemble piece, but had lovely partnering sections in
which pairs of dancers tapped their sticks together. The piece was
marked by pretty formations and nice footwork sequences.
One of the highlights for me was seeing Ms.
Chen's earthy modern piece, Whirlwind, inspired by her journey on the
Silk Road. It opens with six dancers standing still on stage, very
subtly swaying forward and backward on the breeze. In this section, and
throughout the piece, Ms. Chen used groups moving in unison, save for
one dancer. These formations seemed to embody the phenomenon of the
whirlwind, which she described in the program as coming from different
directions. In the opening section, the dancers' mostly remain in their
spots, but they execute beautiful adagio movement with the upper body
and the plie, creating the atmospheres of a coming storm. As the dance
builds, influences of various cultures can be appear. The energy of the
wind can be felt in contractions and sighing movement. I loved the
section danced by the men, locked onto one another's arms in a circle
and swaying together in a way that seemed ancient and ritualistic.
Great original movement in this dance and beautiful artistic execution
by the dancers.
Min Zhou shone in the traditional Peacock Dance
from her charming staccato birdlike gestures, shuddering shoulders and
expressive movement of the upper body, to her lovely transitions into
slow and controlled adagio phrases. She held her arm above her head,
her hand shaped like the head of a peacock, her floor length skirt
draped to resemble its plumage.
The program closed with Chen's traditional piece,
Festival, a spectacle of cartwheels, barrel turns, colorful ribbons,
and flags, complete with a dragon dance in which the dragon takes a spin
around the audience. The piece was great fun and a fitting close to a
beautiful program.
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