Dance Review on What's Next? Crime Scene!
文︰Simon Kwok | 上載日期︰2009年8月17日 | 文章類別︰藝術寫作計劃學員評論

 

主辦︰City Contemporary Dance Company
地點︰Hong Kong Cultural Centre Studio Theatre
日期︰17 - 19/4/2009
城市︰Hong Kong »
藝術類別︰戲劇 »

(1) What's Next?

 

It was an imaginative dance performance on appreciating the clouds in sky. In fact, it was like a story telling the forms, shapes, patterns, formation, cycle, movement and music of the ever-changing clouds. A lot of performing elements were combined of rhythmic and agile dancers, live music, cloud-like costume and props, visual projection and ingenious set design. This production certainly gave audience a joyful cloud watching experience.

 

It was ‘Rolling, Turning, Rotating'. That was the impression of what the dancers were moving most of the time. Some examples were here. In the opening, the dancers emerged with ‘mime walk' like, from the door high up in the rear stage platform. It was like clouds shifting and appearing high above from heaven. Then, the dancers slowly rolled their bodies down along the stairway to the stage floor. Clouds were descending and approaching to the audience. It signified the rise of curtain. ‘Turning', the dancers turned and turned, like spinning, sometimes in place, sometimes round a circle. It was like strong wing forming vortex. ‘Rotating', a dancer with a rope attached to his body, was hanging in the air and lying against the wall, rotated slowly with sideway hand somersault from one side of stage to another. Clouds sometimes rotated in shape.

 

Two fascinating movements were done by the agile dancers. This time, a dancer rotated with sideway hand somersault across the wall but without the hanging rope. Instead, the dancer was supported below by other dancers. Another one was a dancer walking in the air being held upright by two dancers below, surrounded by other dancers in a group, travelled across the stage. It was like parade-in-the-air in Cheung Chau Bun Festival.

 

Aerial dance was another spectacular movement. A dancer with rope attached from movable pulley in the ceiling, walked downward from top against the wall, in a line by line zigzag pattern. It induced a sense of suspense, which was very like clouds hanging in the sky, descending from heaven to earth. Also, a dancer walked beautifully across the air from the top platform, landing and standing on the live musician's piano top. Clouds seemed having shifted across the sky and rested on mountain peak.

 

The live music was amazing. It echoed the mood or state of clouds. Nelson Hiu, the live musician played various mode of music such as piano, electric guitar with singing, cajon (percussion drum often related to flamenco music/ samba in South America), and even ‘a cappella' (vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment).

 

The costume was cloud-like colour and shape. The dressing was like milky white tight sport suits. Some were with feather-liked upper outer coats, some were with plastic bag-like upper outer coats. When the dancers were moving, the upper coats were filled with air, resembling bubbled air clouds and feathery clouds. The dancers had a white stripe on middle of face, like African tribe, presenting a taste of primitive and nature.

 

Two visual projections on stage were great. Lines of script describing the clouds were projected by moving from the stage floor towards the backdrop wall top. The effect was very similar to the prologue of the ‘Star Wars' movie series. Also, the projection of eye balls with blinking and overlapping was interesting.

 

The use of a high platform representing the heaven and sky, a connecting stairway, and a stage floor with five holes capable of letting the clouds to disappear and vanish, or even to emerge from the hole in one scene, was ingenious in giving a three dimensional stage.

 

It was almost a surround cloud watching experience.

 

(2) Crime Scene!

 

It was about flashback with guesses on what might have happened in the crime scene. The show was a delightful mix of Broadway-style music, detective story and romance. It gave joys of watching the murder weapon dance, romantic dance between lovers. Also, you might appreciate the resentment dance between breakup lovers, and thought inspiring dance of detective tracing cues.

 

The show consisted of eleven short episodes. They were Prologue, Murder, Discovery, Missing, Stalking, Witness, Investigation, Affirmation, Searching, Anti-stalking and Lost. Although it was eleven, the audience was kept hooked on finding who the murderer was, and how the murder has happened.

 

The prologue was funny with one dancer conducting and other dancers singing. It triggered the feel of comedy film ‘The Addams Family', expecting something mysterious or even crazy would happen.

 

Right from the prologue, an old and unused chandelier was lying on the stage floor. It was in ‘Discovery', investigating started with the rise and light up of the chandelier. The movie ‘The Phantom of the Opera (2004)' had similar rising and lighting up of the chandelier, signifying the rise of curtain for flashback.

 

The most attractive part was the murder weapon dance in ‘Affirmation'. Seven dancers each with revolver, dagger, broken glass bottle, baseball rod, rope, electric chain saw and camping knife, dance beautifully. Forming a line, one behind another, in upright position, the odd and even position dancers bowed down sequentially to alternate sides. The last position dancer jumped high into the air, holding and pointing the electric chain saw to sky. It looked like flower opening.

 

Some playfulness was incorporated. One suspect dancer inconspicuously dropped his gun, making noise on striking the floor. The subtleness added fun. Also, the seven suspect dancers stood along the stairway in the audience seating area. When the detective dancer put an upright U-shaped banana in front of mouth, those seven dancers said ‘Ah'. Oppositely, when the detective dancer put an inverted U-shaped banana in front of mouth, they said ‘Oh'. It was as if they were playing with the audience.

 

The contrast effect in ‘Lost' revealed the sense of powerlessness and frustration in the detective dancer. While the other dancers were trying to uphold the lying detective in the sofa seat, the detective dancer slipped down being exhausted. Reversely, while the other dancers crowded and rested tiredly over the detective's body, the detective dancer emerged vigorously, and slipped back inside the crowd. The ‘shrinking versus magnifying' effect was well contrasted.

 

The ending pushed the climax to next level, when the detective revealed new possible cue from opening an envelope.

 

「看舞‧析舞‧論舞——舞蹈賞析及評論寫作計劃」由國際演藝評論家協會(香港分會)和香港舞蹈聯盟合辦及統籌。

 

 

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Simon Kwok