Dance Now Exchange (UK/CHINA)
Lilian Baylis Theatre, London – June 13, 2008

Victoria Hill

Dance Now Exchange, part of the Five Circles Arts Festival, was composed of three “chapters”; succeeding solos, duets and serene guitar choruses by composer Suki Mok that came and went like a piece of animation. It was short – only 30 minutes long – but it was the result of a “work in progress” during a two-week residency between two choreographers who, before June 3, had never even met. Liu Qi, deputy artistic director of Guangdong Modern Dance Company, and Anh Ngoc Nguyen of Wayne McGregor|Random Dance and Phoenix Dance Theatre, joined with dancer Maggie Ho-Ki Kwan to explore the themes of connection and renewal.
Nguyen’s opening solo was a contemporary exchange event in itself. The tone was fresh and blooming as his internal energies were projected through sharp twists and kicks combined with flowing arms and grace. Ballet and martial arts entered into friendly relations as Nguyen retained a core of inner strength to balance them. When Qi entered, like a sheet of paper unfurling at Nguyen’s feet, the pair held a profound conversation through silent fluidity and sinewy movement, though neither spoke the other’s language.
The second chapter possessed an intensity that was matched by its lighting design. Ho-Ki Kwan and Nguyen, in a cycloid of green light, were like elastic dolls pulling at each other, lifting, leaning and counteracting. Ho-Ki Kwan took Nguyen round in an arabesque and he lifted her high with his foot. They drew circles through space, in a controlled partnership that told of their desire to move forward with dance, whilst channelling their own East Asian culture, the repetition of circles perhaps suggestive of Chinese karma. Chapter three was a culmination by all, only weakened by their inability to stay united in timing, although their unique physical control held the attention.
Here we have the beginnings of a new dance genre: one that finds interplay between preservation and inevitable change, combining western dance skills whilst maintaining the beauty of East Asian dance and meaning. Although not complete – in fact barely started – Qi and Nguyen’s choreography demonstrates more powerfully than words that mankind is wealthier through sharing, and it is only in sharing that a subtle love affair can evolve. This was a passionate cross fertilisation of ideas that suggested intellectual work is about creating something new, belonging to no existing group or culture. Western critics who have had a hard time judging Chinese modern dance over the years have a lot to learn from this short, but succinct entry.