Megan Amato enjoys this contemporary dance production.
★★★★
If you didn’t see this show, I’m sad to say that you missed out on a gem.
Combining traditional Erhu music with jazz dance, this blend of east meets west was nearly seamless as musician and dancer worked in conjunction to deliver a story about an astronomer’s journey to find zero degrees longitude.
Erhu, a Chinese two-stringed bowed instrument, is similar to the violin as Chen Xiyao demonstrated by gracefully drawing bow along the bottom of the strings while jazz dancer Cheng expressed herself – both in form and in facial expression – to the rhythm.
Throughout the 60-minute show, the tone shifted from modern jazz – with a recording in the background while Cheng danced – to a collaboration between musician and dancer, the clothing of the latter changing from western jazz style to Chinese garments between scenes that suited the mood and meaning of each segment.
We learned that Erhu, itself, is a blend of the traditional and modern thanks to the late musician Liu Tianhua, so it married well with the improvisational nature of jazz and both Chen’s seemingly effortless grace and Cheng’s explorative dance harmoniously worked to tell the story collaboratively.
Afterwards, Director Chan Vi called upon the audience and introduced her Erhu Remix Experiment. Audience members were invited to randomly chose cards with musical notes on them for Chen Xiyao to play as is or improvise at will.
I adore shows that offer an interactive cultural exchange along with the performance and it was a delight to watch even the smallest audience member’s thrill in being a part of this project.
A fun and innovative merging of talents to keep your eyes on.
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