by Xinhua writers Long Jingyi, Liu Yinglun
HONG KONG, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Dancers trained in Tai Chi lend their movements to the physical expression of brushstrokes by China's best-known calligrapher Wang Xizhi in After Snowfall, a new dance poem opening through Monday in Xiqu Center in Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District.
Performed by the Hong Kong Dance Company, the show is inspired by the titular 28-character letter Wang wrote to wish his friend well at the first sight of sunlight after heavy snowfall. It is considered a masterpiece of Chinese cursive calligraphy next to Wang's Lantingji Xu, or "The Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion."
"The letter was written during wartime, but it showed that Wang still cared for his friends and managed to find joy in life," said Yang Yuntao, director and choreographer of the show.
Generations of calligraphers copied Wang's hand with their own brushstrokes, while Yang and the dancers interpreted it with energy and sentiments coursing through their bodies -- an approach grounded in oriental aesthetics and inherent in other cultural traditions including Tai Chi.
To prepare for the show, Yang had a Tai Chi master come in to train the dancers for half a year. The company's principal dancer Ong Tze Shen at first felt his moves "lacked strengths despite the right postures," but later gained poise as he honed concentration through practicing.
"The key, the master said, was to rely more on my willpower instead of physical strength to achieve the state of a lotus flower floating on water," said Ong, who had been training for nine hours every day for solo dance numbers in the show.
As an oriental approach to deciphering oriental calligraphy, Tai Chi was represented beneath the surface of the show -- the trained eyes will spot a deep-rooted tree, an agile cat and fish weaving their ways through water here and there instead of foursquare Tai Chi moves.
"The point of the martial arts practices is allowing for dancers to refocus on their own bodies and zone out the notion of performing for the time being, so that their work can carry more impact," said Yang, who hopes to derive from the practices a training routine for Chinese dancers.
The dance company has been working on a project since 2018 to explore the connection between Chinese dance and Chinese martial arts.
The scenic design by new media artist Chris Cheung, on the other hand, tickled the optic nerves of the audience. He projected onto the semi-transparent black backdrop motion-captured brushstrokes overlapped with the dancers' pulsing brain waves.
Calligraphy lovers, curious about how the dance of ink brushes became the dance of the human forms, were in awe. "It was like it really snowed on stage, and the first ray of sunlight ushered in the feeling of infinite brightness," said a member of the audience.
The show is part of the dance company's persistent effort to carry forth and rejuvenate Chinese traditional culture, said Yang, adding that the company will tour overseas. ■
