Thouin began teaching dance and theater at the age of 15 and by the time she was 22 she was already making a name for herself internationally. Since 1999 she has been invited to China on a number of occasions to work with many major Chinese dance companies.
"Creativity is something we don't understand. The artist creates something they don't understand and only after do they know it," she explained. Before starting working on her piece “White,” she gave them intense yoga training so that they would learn to get their balance from the ground and to concentrate only on the dance and themselves and nothing else around them.
Based on the original music of Michel Drapeau and accompanied by the 3D animation of Faral Averill, “White” aims at releasing the audience from their material desires and rethink what they truly want.
Midjord, who hails from the Royal Danish Ballet, has won awards at many international dance festivals and brings with her a strong background in classical ballet. The inspiration for her piece comes from a book, “Carte De Tendre,” which is all about the success and pitfalls of love.
After being contacted by Wang, Midjord drew a map of her last relationship and that is what she shares and explores through dance. The bewilderment she experienced is expressed by the dancers' intertwined bodies that at times appear painful and disjointed. "It is more an abstract than the exact story," she explained. "People can understand the emotion, the feeling of each part - everybody can put their own experience into it."
Lidberg also stressed the importance of emotions in modern dance. He said that while many modern dancers and teachers have attempted to develop systematic movements, training and choreography, this is almost impossible as it is the free-flowing interpretation of feeling that results in a finished modern dance piece.
Wang agreed that audiences need to be more relaxed when watching a modern dance performance and simply enjoy what they are feeling in the theater. She said that many people try to interpret each and every movement and look for a fixed plot as you would with a ballet performance. She explained that modern dance is completely different. To enjoy modern dance you need to forget the plot and totally immerse yourself in the atmosphere and focus on how it makes you feel, she said.
Wang added that only after you free your mind can you begin to build a personal connection with the dancers and open yourself up to the messages that the choreographers are trying to express, then will you be able to see the refractions of light emanating from “Prism.”
Prism will be performed on Aug 28-29 at the PLA Song and Dance Theater in Beijing.
(Global Times August 19, 2009)
