{"id":10209,"date":"2011-02-14T23:37:16","date_gmt":"2011-02-15T06:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=10209"},"modified":"2011-02-17T00:29:56","modified_gmt":"2011-02-17T07:29:56","slug":"beijing-danceldtx-spring-of-chinese-dance-at-suzanne-dellal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=10209","title":{"rendered":"Beijing Dance\/LDTX – Spring of Chinese Dance at Suzanne Dellal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Beijing Dance\/LDTX in All River Red\/Photo courtesy of PR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beijing Dance\/LDTX opened the \u201cSpring of Chinese Dance\u201d festival with an excellent performance last night at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv. China’s first independent professional dance company, the Artistic Director is Willy Tsao, a prominent figure in the Chinese dance community. LDTX (Lei Dong Tian Xia)\u00a0means\u00a0“thunder rumbles under heaven” and their impact is tremendous, providing a platform for contemporary dance and placing an emphasis on the creation of\u00a0new choreography. The varied program included works from two pairs of choreographers: excerpts from Cold Dagger<\/em> and One Table N Chairs<\/em>, and the full length work All River Red<\/em> by Li Hanzhong (Deputy Artistic Director)\u00a0and Ma Bo; and an excerpt from October<\/em> by Liu Bin and Song Tingting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The excerpts enabled Israeli audiences to see the diversity of works within the company repertoire:<\/p>\n

Cold Dagger<\/em> is performed by the company. The dancers are like life-sized chess figures in the traditional Chinese game of weigi (Go), clad in either black or white with flowing skirted costumes, yet the dance has a very contemporary feel. It is a dance of tension and strategic confrontation, the balance of power constantly shifting, sharp and aesthetic.<\/p>\n

October<\/em> is a duet performed by Song Tingting and Xu Yiming to Tchaikovsky\u2019s \u201cOctober.\u201d Side by side, in everyday clothes \u2013 he in a plaid sweater, she in a long gray skirt, they move through gestures that suggest an autumnal melancholy.<\/p>\n

One Table N Chairs<\/em> is the only work that is performed to traditional Chinese music: excerpts from the Chinese opera \u201cJing-Ju Sitting in the Palace<\/em>.\u201d The work is inspired by Chinese opera and is composed of scenes that are a response to the different opera styles, representing them through the medium of contemporary dance.<\/p>\n

All River Red<\/em> is a mesmerizing journey, weaving the political with the emotional in a work of great beauty. Set to Stravinsky\u2019s Rite of Spring, the opening scene is starkly powerful. The company, clad in pale bodysuits, with red bags on their shoulders, stand, raising one arm in the air, all facing the same direction. One dancer stands apart, facing the other way, setting up the essential conflict between the individual and the group, innovation and tradition.<\/p>\n

The red bags are transformed throughout the dance \u2013 waved in the air as flags, spread on the floor like a small mat, held up to create a red wall, binding one of the dancers, or all tied together in a long rope \u2013 a powerful symbol and strong visual presence. Relating to the cultural transformations and struggles that have taken place in China, the setting of this work on Stravinsky\u2019s Rite of Sp<\/em>ring (which has its own revolutionary history in dance) is particularly striking and moving.<\/p>\n

The dancers are impressive throughout the evening, revealing strength, agility and sensitivity \u2013 it\u2019s a wonderful company & program\u00a0as well\u00a0an exciting opportunity to see contemporary choreography from China.<\/p>\n

Beijing Dance LDTX and the Chinese Shaolin Martial Arts Group will perform in Israel through February 20, 2011, as part of the \u201cSpring of Chinese Dance\u201d festival created by the Suzanne Dellal Centre in cooperation with the Embassy and Ministry of Culture of the People\u2019s Republic of China. The performances will take place in Tel Aviv, Beersheva, Jerusalem and Carmiel.<\/p>\n

Beersheva Performing Arts Center
\nBeijing Dance\/LDTX February 16, 2011
\nTickets: 08-6463000<\/p>\n

Suzanne Dellal Center, Tel Aviv
\nBeijing Dance\/LDTX February 15 at 18:00 and 21:00
\nChinese Shaolin Martial Arts Group February 16 at 21:00, February 18 at 22:00, February 19 at 21:00
\nTickets 210 NIS, to order call: 03-5105656<\/p>\n

The Jerusalem Centre for the Performing Arts
\nChinese Shaolin Martial Arts Group, February 17 at 20:30
\nTickets 150 \u2013 210 NIS, to order call: 02-5605755<\/p>\n

Carmiel Performing Arts Center
\nChinese Shaolin Martial Arts Group, February 20 at 21:00
\nTickets 140 NIS, to order call: 04-9881111<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beijing Dance\/LDTX opened the \u201cSpring of Chinese Dance\u201d festival with an excellent performance last night at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv. China’s first independent professional dance company, the Artistic Director is Willy Tsao, a prominent figure in the Chinese dance community. LDTX (Lei Dong Tian Xia)\u00a0means\u00a0“thunder rumbles under heaven” and their impact is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}