Tao Dance Theatre: “Weight X3 / 2”, Spring Dance Festival
The Studio, Sydney Opera House, 23 August 2012
Founded in 2008, Chinese contemporary dance company Tao Dance Theatre has chalked up a considerable number of international tours in only four years and with a small nucleus of performers, creators and minimal sets they must travel light. In this case there are three performers for the double bill presented as multi-tasking artistic director Tao Ye dances alongside Duan Ni and Wang Hao with Tao Ye and Duan Ni also credited with the choreography. And, while each dancer moved with a highly skilled precision that was near faultless, this was an uneven program with the first half much stronger than the second.
As suggested by the use of numbers to name the works “Weight X3 / 2” there is no underlying theme or narrative here but rather movement for movement’s sake. The excerpt from Weight X 3 consisted of a duet and a solo, starting with a duet between Tao Ye and Wang Hao. Set to minimalist music by Steve Reich they began physically connected by holding hands, eventually swirling apart as the movements grew bigger and faster. The costumes for male and female dancer were identical, long flowing beige garments that left only their heads and feet visible and emphasised the clarity and careful placement of their feet. As they moved in unison across the floor with increasingly deft changes of direction their upper bodies remained implacably unhurried, grounded yet light.
In the following solo the petite Duan Ni kept a metallic pole in perpetual motion, moving so fast that the visual trail of its path left a blurred sphere large enough to engulf her. A backless costume and a carefully angled spotlight from above highlighted her back and shoulder muscles as they worked to keep the pole spinning. She controlled it with great skill yet allowed the momentum it generated while she stood stationary to fuel her subsequent pivots – it spun around her then she spun around it.
2 is a lengthy duet (approximately 30-40 minutes) performed by its choreographers, Tao Ye and Duan Ni, and a much more challenging experience. The accompanying electronic music by Xiao He incorporated the crackling sound of negative feedback from an amplifier with a sometimes uncomfortably high pitch and a repetitive underlying drone. Pressed close to the ground the choreography suggested a cyclical resistance and submission to oppressive gravitational pressure that limited the range of movement and wider use of space - as surely as their movements became bigger and stronger they would come to a standstill, again and again and again. Rolling and flopping across the floor into contorted positions (where they appeared bent and twisted up like rag dolls) their extreme flexibility was apparent with hyper-extended elbows, effortless rolls through the splits and flat turn out that would make an aspiring ballet dancer green with envy. While the level of skill on display was still very high this work just didn’t feel like it was going anywhere or give any indication of when it might wrap up.
- GERALDINE HIGGINSON