In lieu of class today, please read this performance review of a November 2010 adaptation of The Soul of Chi'en Nu Leaves Her Body. This video clip displays a ritual dance featured in the performance. This second video clip is called "Elevator Arrival." What scene from the original play does it recall? I find the translocation (and perceived importance) of 13th century Chinese social mores to the 21st century United States quite interesting. What here sparks your critical interest? Assignment: Before Friday, 4/1/11, at 3:00 p.m., please post a one-paragraph comment responding to any of the material featured in this blog post. You will need an online mail account in order to comment on this blog, so please leave yourself time to register for one if necessary. You may delete the account after the end of the semester if you'd like.
I find the technique of combining theatre and film fascinating. However, I must agree with Ed Malin, based upon the ritual dance and elevator arrival, that the choreography was not the strongest element of the performance. I was more interested in watching the film projected on the screens and listening to the music than watching the dancers. I believe that the ritual dance is the scene depicting the departure of Wen-chu and the soul of Chien-nu traveling to the location of the boat. Elevator arrival is the scene in the play when Wen-chu first arrives to visit Mrs. Chang and to meet Chien-nu for the first time. The dialogue has been taken from the play, but in the film Wen-chu gives Mrs. Chang a yellow parrot. Two female dancers, one in red and the other dressed in yellow, are present on stage during this part of the play. Birds are used to symbolize freedom, so I presume that the yellow parrot foreshadows the separation between the soul and body of Chien-nu. The two female dancers represent the separated soul and body of Chien-nu. Soul Leaves her Body is a very interesting portrayal of an ancient story using modern techniques.
ReplyDeleteI thought both videos were very interesting to watch. The way that the characters were portrayed on stage as well as video going on in the background was a very different approach. The Elevator Arrival was my favorite of the two because of the video being played in the background then the actor coming onto the stage as the elevator stops. This part is when Wen-chu first arrives to meet Chi'en Nu and her mother. I thought the ritual dance was entertaining and really added to the originality of the production. The production used both modern and traditional ways in the making of the play and I thought it helped tell the story well. Ed Malin said that, "singing and dancing interludes interrupt the story to bring out interior states." I felt that the ritual dance really showcased this aspect of the production. At first when I was watching the actors it seemed as if they were just dancing, but then I realized they were showing how the characters were feeling and I found that very intriguing. This adaptation of the 13th century drama was both fun to watch and valuable to learning more about the Chinese culture and their performance of art.
ReplyDeleteI've always liked the idea of taking an old play and style of theatre and setting it in modern day; I think it is an interesting concept and performers today need to know the roots of where the piece came from. However, these videos and reviews didn't really do that much for me. From a performance aspect, I didn't see any connection between the dancers. When I finally did see sparks of connection between the performers, I couldn't figure out what they wanted from each other. Technique and timing aside, it seemed as if they were shown the video and told to do whatever they felt like at the time. I was more interested in the video that was playing in the background. "Elevator Arrival" had a very cool concept, but I was still needing that extra push in the performance. I think it portrayed Wang Wen-chu meeting Ch'ien-nu for the first time. I don't want to sound redundant, but placing both video and live performance on the same stage can be very tricky, mainly because the audience's eyes are going to automatically go to the video. It is up to the performers to keep up with it, and I couldn't help but get distracted because they weren't as strong. These two elements either should have been separated for this piece, or they should have made bolder choices. Personally, I felt like if I hadn't read the play, I would have had no idea what was happening onstage.
ReplyDeleteThe visuals used here is quite different than the lack of props used in traditional performances of this play. This, however, is quite a smart upgrade in order to keep modern audience’s attention. As television, movies, and lots of lights in general, are a part of our modern daily life, to add the video clips into the play is extremely attention grabbing and attention sustaining. I was especially drawn to the second video clip. The video of his walking, a simple view of modern day shoes and background, with the slow and expressive dancing was something I’ve never seen before. To know that right before this play was written, theater was being suppressed as a form of art, makes the play, and this contemporary version of it more precious than I would think it without knowing the background.
ReplyDeleteI throughly enjoyed watching each of these videos. The first one, the dance sequence, greatly intrigued me. I do not agree with the reviewer that the choreography was not so effective. They did not seem like professional dancers, this I can agree with; however, I found their mirroring movements to be entrancing. I felt as though they captured the emotional triumph of the characters well. As for the second clip, the "Elevator Arrival", I could see that this was an interpretation of Wen-chu's visit to meet Chi'en Nu. The collaboration of the classic aspects of the performance with the modern were also very interesting. I found it ironic that the actors who were live and performing in the classic style were in modern dress while the modern part, the video projections, featured actors in classic Chinese attire.
ReplyDeleteI thought the dance pieces were very entertaining, but I feel that they fail to effectively tell the story. If the screens weren't there, I feel it'd be a lot harder for an audience member to understand the story trying to be told. I do feel that they did well to depict the separation of Chi'en Nu's soul from her body, and made it more of a chilling thing and monumental event than the play suggests. The elevator video, however, seemed to have a sense of disconnection from the dancing and the story on the screen, which proved to be more confusing than anything else.
ReplyDeleteI love it when plays of antiquity are revitalized with modern productions. Particularly in "Elevator Arrival," technology used in this production illuminated themes already found in Cheng Teh-hui's script. For example, Mrs. Chang, Wang, and Ch'ien-Nu were on screen, but the servants were merely humans onstage, dwarfed by the projected video faces. It brought to light the class dynamics. Also, focusing on the yellow parakeet (Wang's gift) stage right while showing Ch'ien-Nu sitting alone on her bed stage left: could it be paralleling a bird in a cage to a soul in a body? The relationship between the two defines them. The presence of the bird makes a cage a cage, otherwise it's just a wire contraption with empty space in the center. If the bird escapes, it's useless. It serves no purpose. Ch'ien-Nu's soul is encapsulated by her body and gives her flesh meaning; when the soul takes flight, like a bird escaping its cage, the body is just skin, organs, and bones. When the soul comes back, she comes to life again. The body once again is "her."
ReplyDelete~ Colleen Foster
I really enjoyed watching the video played behind the actors. I thought it brought a new element to the play that helped show deeper emotions than just what the actors presented. I always find images set to music without any dialogue as inspiring. I didn't quite understand the meaning of the dancing in the first clip. My best interpretation of the dancing was that the spinning represented Ch'ien Nu's soul leaving her body. I liked the Elevator Arrival better than the first clip because the visual was really neat. This clip represented when Wang Wen-Chu meets his mother-in-law for the first time before he goes for examination. The miscommunication between Mrs. Chang and Wang Wen-Chu is what leads Ch'ien Nu to believe that she must release her soul to follow him so that he will come back to marry her. I thought the video in the background captured this longing by the gazing expression on the characters' faces. Especially the ending shot where the screen shows a close-up of his face and the audience knows he has fallen in love with Ch'ien Nu's soul.
ReplyDeleteKatie Beauchamp
Well I think the first clip, Ritual Dance, is the part of the play where Chi’en Nu’s soul leaves her body. Although Ed Malin seems to think the choreography was not the strongest element I think it was good (to put it vaguely). Upon watching the Ritual Dance I think the swooping and rising motions to me really imparted a feeling of ethereality, like paper floating on air. So to me, if that is indeed the scene of the soul leaving then they did it very well. The scene elevator arrival, Wen-chu arriving to see Chi’en Nu, is dominated by the videos playing on either side which was interesting to see. Overall I think they combined the two mediums well. I think the dancing might have been overshadowed in some scenes by the film intentionally as obvious in Elevator Arrival, and may only have been viewed as a competing factor in scenes like ritual dance because people have become accustomed to starring at screens and when they must choose between people are probably more likely to lazily or sub consciously choose the screen. But as I stated, I think the choreography did it’s part and is perhaps underrated in this performance.
ReplyDelete-Liam Rogers
(I apologize for this being late. I was thinking there was an email going to be sent out about it or the assignment would be on BB, where most of my classwork is.)
ReplyDeleteI watched both video clips of the dances, and I would be repeating myself if I talked about both of them. So, I will only comment on the first: Soul Leaving Her Body, Ritual Dance. I thought the choreography was, unfortunately, not the main focus in this production. The choreography tells a great story and could have been organized a bit clearer if the audience was able to pay attention to actors alone. As a member of the theatre community, I love the concept of including media into works. Especially when a production is modernizing the piece, media works very well because it's something comfortable and familiar to audiences today. However, there is a bit of caution a director, designer, and/or producer should take when deciding when exactly to use the media, how to use it, and what their purpose of using it at all would be. I found it rather confusing the way the media was formatted along with the dance. It really distracted me from the story being told from the text. The play was written to be simple, and to use simple ideas. Yes, I understand that the play in this production was modernized; but I feel a bare stage with the actors choreography would have spoken louder than having both media and dance travel on the stage.