Sutra
– Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Choreography
:
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Music
composition: Szymon
Brzóska
Premiere:
27 May 2008 Live music:
Alies
Sluiter, Olga Wojciechowska,Laura Anstee,
Coordt
Linke and Szymon Brzóska
This
is a piece is
Inspired by the Shaolin
Temple
that
Cherkaoui visited
in 2007.He
created a choreography that brings together two civilizations, two cultures
with
two different
perspective. The east and the west. The
Shaolin Monks and
a European man.
What
is most surprising is the skillful use of wooden boxes to modify
the
space. Flowers, temples, bridges, streets, walls... the boxes seem to
take many forms and the Shaolin Monks appear and disappear behind
them almost magically, as if everything were an illusion. Eighteen
Shaolin Monks moves with such unison, precision
and a
natural quality that you
can’t take your eyes off the stage.
The
stage is a white box; in which an alternation of figures and
movements change the space; creating another dimension,images and
places inside a room.The
Live music transpires from a veiled background in which, observing
carefully, we can distinguish the silhouettes of the musicians, who
are not part of the performance. The music is not a support for the choreography but an integral part of the environment that Cherkaoui wanted
to create.
The
attention is captured by the choreography that makes the audience
participate as part of the story, part of the exchange between two
cultures,
part
of the game
of shapes and jumps suspended in mid-air.
The
Kung
Fu
practiced
by Shaolin Monks cut the air and gives the performance another
dimension to complete
it.
A
perfect union between technique
and
precision,
expression
and dedication.The image of a man who comes from far away.A man observes a foreign culture starting from the basics. The man commences in dialogue with a child sitting in front of him, in a game of exchanges and photographs.The lights used are simple and gives an atmosphere that allows the dialogue between the spectator and the scene.The costumes are a further element that differentiates the two cultures, giving dynamic to the movements and a practical sense that characterizes the simplicity and speed with which the dancers move and moves the space.
In conclusion I think this piece gives a good illustration of Sidi Larbi’s experience with the Shaolin Monks as a European man observing a different culture. He gives us a new way of looking a different culture, without comparing, diving into it from the eyes of a child.
By Veronica Totolo
