Friday July 10, 2009 - Lincoln Center Festival offers Shen Wei's three-part RE- trilogy. The performances are sold out. I was very fortunate to obtain a single press pass for the second night (an ideal seat, actually) and I think I bought the last two available tickets for Saturday night so that Kokyat can see it. I know he will be fascinated by this visual feast. Above, an Alex Pires photo from RE-II, subtitled The New Silk Road. Photos will enhance if clicked on.
Entering the subtly-lit Tully Hall, the usual stage area has been transformed into an open dance space. Silent gardeners move round the periphery of a mandala-like design on the floor, filling in the pattern with flakes of deep blue, green and cream. Lighting designer de luxe Jennifer Tipton's five pools of light glow as the house dims, and RE-I, subtitled Tibet, begins.
As the dancers begin to enter the space they shuffle or rush about, and the coloured flakes mix into swirls on the floor, recalling Shen Wei's Connect Transfer. Photo above: Alex Pires. On the back-panel, cloud images are projected in changing light. Wearing simple contemporary dark trousers and pale shirts, the dancers move slowly to the sound of traditional Tibetan chant. The flakes become snow-like as the sky darkens. When the dancers withdraw, the floor looks like an artist's oil palette at the end of a day's work.
The floor is quickly swept clean and soon RE-III, The New Silk Road, begins. David Lang provides the music and Todd Reynolds is the violinist, and sounds recorded by Shen Wei in his journey along the Silk Road are heard. Regiments in pale olive drabs march smartly, wheeling in formations and then breaking into pairs (top photo) slowly collapsing onto one another. In a series of simultaneous solos, the dancers appear to be marionettes controlled by an unseen force. The marching motif commences again, but in each regiment one dancer falls out of sync. Breakdown. A single woman then dances a slow solo to ethereal sounds as a band of white light flickers across the backdrop. The dancers re-appear in tie-dyed sportswear and black knee socks; despite this attempt at individuality, they continue to move like automatons as the music takes on an industrial throb.
The evening reaches its visual apex in the concluding RE-II, Angkor Wat. In dark body suits (Alex Pires photo, above) the dancers move as a community to sounds recorded by Shen Wei at the ancient temple (including a child singing) and murmurs of the jungle.
Projections of the temple then fill the entire auditorium, enveloping the audience and drawing us in to the ritualistic conclusion of the evening.
To the shimmeringly spiritual John Tavener score Tears of the Angels a woman, nearly naked, enters in stark white light. Priestess? Ghost? Spirit? We are left to imagine. Dancers in sleek body tights weave somber duets around her reclining form. She is then joined by three other women as the entire Company slowly congregate, calmly sinking to the floor as the light fades. Alex Pires photo, above.
What made the evening particularly memorable for me was the rapt attention of the audience. Unlike many nights I have spent in the theatre recently, there was nary a peep from anyone in the Hall. No coughing, no cell-phones; just a collective intense immersion in what Shen Wei was showing us.
The beautiful choreographer appeared for a bow at the end as the audience rose in appreciation. In a world full of religious and ideological divisions, racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty, greed and banal popular entertainment to spend an evening in Shen Wei's dreamscape was a true pleasure. If only we could put aside the things that keep us divided humanity might attain its own divinity.
Above: Lois Greenfield's photo of dancer Hunter Carter in RE-II Angkor Wat.
