Tao Body’s ＂11＂ premiered in Beijing： ＂The lower body is limited, and the upper body improvises＂

From August 24th to 26th, tao dance theater’s "Digital Series" modern dance "11" held its world premiere at Beijing National Grand Theatre. Tao’s "digital series" works of body always regard the movement characteristics of body as an important channel for artistic exploration, and then release vitality in the repetitive and restrictive movement of body, and refine a unique aesthetic presentation and training system. How to move? Why are you moving? Spirit and flesh generate speculation in the dynamic law.

"11" live photo. Photography ocean

The work "11" is the 11th work in the "Digital Series", which is the latest and the longest performance. It lasted 62 minutes on-site observation by The Paper reporters. It is reasonable to say that it is a great challenge for Tao’s body to move for more than 30 minutes-this time, the choreographer Tao Ye tried to break through this limit through paragraph promotion and improvisation.

The performance at the National Grand Theatre is divided into the first half and the second half. In the first half, five dancers from tao dance theater performed the work "5", which was premiered at the July Dance Festival in capital theatre, Amsterdam in 2013. On the stage, the five dancers kept connected with each other from beginning to end, never separated but integrated, and like a knot, they performed endless deformation and progress with continuous support movement. Tao Ye, a choreographer, once explained, "This is a work that expresses people’s understanding and feelings about things."

In the second half of the performance, the style of painting changed suddenly. Perhaps to show the difference from the previous choreography paradigm of "Counting for Series", driven by the strong electronic music rhythm, 11 dancers lined up vertically, mumbling the beat, and uniformly "swept" across the stage, while the upper body showed different dances-this is precisely the characteristic of the work "11". This time, the dancers were set a real-time and common rule of restriction and opening up: lower body limit, lower body limit, Each dancer goes back and forth in her own independent path. The space of their hipbone rotation, the orientation of their knees and every step of their feet are fixed, while the shoulders, elbows, wrists, trunk spine and head of their upper bodies are free to stretch and dance at random. In this sense, every stage presentation of "11" is unique and unique.

"5" live photography Fan Xi

If the number "11" is visually two "1s" in parallel, giving people the impression that it is extremely hard and independent, this time, the work "11" is undoubtedly more direct and sharp. The previous digital series is a kind of development and progression in a cycle of repetition. This time, the choreography edifies the works, pushing each paragraph to their respective ends, either accelerating, static, intense or gentle, and then making them meet again, just like the disorder and irregularity of the world. When the dancer’s lower body movements are completely limited, while the upper body is improvised by the dancer according to each current feeling. In this way, 11 dancers seem to talk in reason and sensibility: 11 dance segments are independent of each other, which can be combined, disrupted and reorganized. When the order exits, the stage is left unknown and presents infinite possibilities.

At the end of the performance, the dancers still stood in a row vertically, and returned the stage to the dark field in a uniform way … When the lights came on again, Tao Ye stepped onto the stage and saluted his partners. Everyone is still bowing in a unique style: holding their chests, bowing their heads, bending over, and dropping their hands to the ground … from heaven to the ground, with a heavy curtain call.

"Improvisation is not casual" Freedom is more brain-burning.

Twelve years after its founding (tao dance theater was founded in 2008), when the world talked about modern dance in China, Tao Body had already become an unavoidable name. This is not only because Tao Ye is determined to explore the pure body, but also because he insists on integrating the philosophical thinking and implication of oriental culture into choreography and presentation. For the work "5", it is the musician Xiaohe who integrates the five elements of Jin Mu’s fire, water and earth into his creation, from cosmic sound to secret mantra, from baroque to neoclassical, just like a visual symphony, and makes a contrast between change and unchanging.

"11" live photo. Photography ocean

When it comes to the idea of "11", Tao Ye explained, "The number 11 is a palindrome for me. It corresponds and opposes, it is not in harmony, but also in contrast, with the beauty of symmetry and the truth of speculation. The number 11 is particularly direct to me, without giving an absolute answer. It provides me with a contradictory and harmonious idea to form a work, and I hope to connect and reach everyone’s deeper inner feelings through this work. "

How to form works by improvisation is a world problem and a challenge that Tao Ye has always wanted to try. He didn’t mince words, "I hated improvisation at first." But now, he began to realize that improvisation is the same as our life. "Everyone, every day, every moment, is improvising." Every behavior, every sentence, every feeling also comes from the improvisation of the moment. " He began to realize that in this era, there may be opportunities to merge the classic and experimental uncertainties with each other. As Tao Ye said, "Improvisation is not casual". What he wants is limited physical freedom.

For "11", the discussion within the dance troupe is unprecedented "warm". Some people think that once hard works are being dismantled by artists themselves, and some people seem to see the vibrant dense jungle, and the works are full of vitality as always; Some people ask "Improvisation under restrictions is not improvisation", while others answer "All improvisation is not improvisation"; Some people have found new surprises in free exploration, others are used to the structure and are trying to break through the singularity. Some people also think of themselves alone in the crowd on the difficult road of life.

"11" has 11 dances, including solo dance, duet dance, trio dance and different group dances. As a solo dancer, Yan Yulin is full of expectations, but she can’t help complaining that "she has to have two heads". One is racking her brains to think about how to be different, and the other is keeping up with the slow pace. Stand neatly in a row on your legs, but try your best to grow differences on your upper body. Dancers have said that they are experiencing division and integration from top to bottom, from left to right, and from inside to outside, and their movements are considered to be brain cramps. It turns out that the quest for freedom has never been that simple.

"11" live photo. Photography ocean

"Come to an impromptu exploration" into the electronic music and fashion of the theater

Or edify the final word, "Improvisation is not just a concept, it can be concentration, listening, dialogue, courage, collaboration, creation, imagination … and yourself. Although every day will not be repeated, through impromptu exploration, every second can be reborn. Improvisation is as old as human civilization and is the innate ability of human beings. " He believes that everyone, "this time, both dancers and audiences are participating in this work in their own way."

Whether dancing or life, every moment is full of unknowns and improvisations. It not only challenges the dancers, but also expands the imagination for the audience. How do personalities and groups get along? Are freedom and rules either one or the other? On the stage, this is the challenge that choreographers and dancers have to face. Off the stage, isn’t this the answer sheet that everyone has to fill out?

Tao Ye was with a group of dancers before the performance of "11". Photography fanxi

As a partner of Taoye for ten years, Xiaohe once again served as the composer of the new work. The first collaboration between them was to use electronic music in the work "2". Ten years later, they restarted the creation of electronic music because of "11". Yun Gong, human voice, Ruan and symphony, in every cooperation, both of them are exploring different sounds and expanding the boundaries of music. Talking about the music of "11", Tao Ye said that "electronic music is the beginning of my cooperation with Xiaohe, and this 11 pieces of electronic music will be a subversive start again".

This year, Duan Ni and Tao Ye founded their own clothing brand DNTY, which has a more professional team and support in the design and production of clothing. The costume creation of "11" releases more freedom for the body. The spacious and relaxed design makes 11 dancers move like the wind, and Duan Ni also blends the trajectory of body movement with the black and white clothing in the form of images, adding instantaneous flow and complicated visual sense to the stage.

Rehearsal photos of tao dance theater’s digital series "11". Photography Duan ni

"DNTY four letters don’t have much imagination, which is the initials of surname Pinyin of Duan Ni and Tao Ye. We constitute the genes of this brand. It can also be called DT for short, which symbolizes the TAO of Detail. Clothing and our dancing have something in common. Dancing is a microscopic detail, which is endless and endless in bone transmission. The same is true of clothing. It is not a still life hanging on the wall, but follows the body and keeps talking with your behavior and living habits. " Tao Ye said.