HOTPOT : Pearl River Delta "Four legs is good, two legs is better (Macao)" "Flux (Macao)" "The Product Of (Hong Kong)" "Limb Clock (Guangzhou)"City Contemporary Dance CompanyCity Contemporary Dance Festival ( Hotpot Showcases )
"Four legs is good, two legs is better (Macao)"
“In contrast, the pieces from Macau were much less classical and hinted at a fertile and wide-ranging culture of contemporary dance, from Albert Garcia’s cheeky Four Legs is Good, Two Legs is Better, that explores the idea of contemporary royalty and stars the best puffy white shirt I have seen since Seinfeld’s pirate version. Garcia primps and poses in his satin boxer shorts and the narcissism explored seems very culturally transportable.”
RealTime issue #137 Feb-March 2017 pg.© Kathryn Kelly
Royalty today comes in a different form. This rat race lifestyle can turn people upside down, forcing some to do unspeakable things only for a chance to get to the top. The pyramid stays the same. In this piece, with the modern day kings behind high-end suits present day slave in a crusty old uniform.
The pyramid has long existed.
"Flux (Macao)"
One will go through different stages of life, and one will easily stay in his/her comfort zone. Comfort zone may not be an ideal mode of life, but we are all afraid of the impulse to change.
Life is always like this, after going around and around one will return to reality, and it all depends on the mood, attitude and reaction “you” choose to face reality. We all need to find the balance point to make our life becoming _____
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"The Product Of (Hong Kong)"
What if our souls are listed in a catalogue? Lists themselves contain hidden messages we seldom reflect upon. They can expand infinitely. In terms of time and space. This yet maybe classified as a metaphor as well — Umbrrto Eco (The Infinity of List)
"Limb Clock (Guangzhou)"
“During the Jin Dynasty, on Shi Shi mountain In the town of Xin An, there was a man named Wang Zhi. One day, he came to this mountain in search for firewood. He saw several children playing chess – some of them were singing, so Wang Zhi walked closer to listen. One of the children gave him a mysterious item the shape of a date pit. When he swallowed it, he somehow didn’t feel hungry anymore. After a while, the child asked him, “Why haven’t you left yet?” When Wang Zhi stood up to leave, he saw that his axe was already entirely rotten. When he returned from the mountain, he could not find a single person who was from his dynasty.”
Lan Ke Guan Qi (Watching Chess with a Rotting Axe)
Ancient Chinese people created mythology through an understanding of their own bodies. They were able to find sanctuary in a mysterious alternative reality, and subversively use this to reflect upon their own selves and the world around them. In the folklore of Lan Ke Guan Qi, the construction of time and space creates a profound sense of conflict and dissonance – time is kind and generous towards the deities and spirits of the mountains, yet it is cold and apathetic towards the living. Through this story, people are able to find comfort in the very real constraints that reality places upon their bodies, yet still continuously search for an imagination of timelessness and infinity.
Similarly, young people living in modern China constantly move through two-dimensional and three-dimensional spaces. In the age of selfies, internet romance, virtual reality and photoshop, people are searching for the utopian space outside the bounds of physical reality. Our bodies hence become huge vessels for time and space, containing the multitudes and complexities of god and human, self and other, male and female, strong and soft, passionate and indifferent…yet all this will one day fade and turn to dust.
