Love's true colors
Dancers performing on stage in Colors of Love.
Beijing Contemporary Dance Theater (BCDT) are putting the final touches on their latest production, Colors of Love, an exploration of women's psychology and attitudes to love, family and life at the different ages of 20, 30 and 40.
Through the combination of dance and stage design, the piece takes the audience through the life experiences of joy and pain, from a female perspective.
"Women's emotions are decidedly different from men's. All women want security, stability and a peaceful environment," commented artistic director Wang Yuanyuan.
The work was originally choreographed by Wang for the Royal Danish Dance Theater (RDDT) and premiered in Copenhagen in 2006. Now, three years later, Wang is combining the RDDT adaptation with a selection of her best works from the past 10 years as part of the troupe's one year anniversary celebration.
"Western dancers are different from Asian dancers physically and mentally," Wang explained. "When dancers are different, you need modify the dance, because dancers have different temperaments like different materials have different texture quality."
"To make the dance work, you need know their temperaments, personalities and know how to make the best use of their specialties in your work," she added. "I know my dancers; I know what they can do and what they can't."
Colors of Love consists of three parts. Sprouting shows the attraction, hopes and desires between a man and woman in the early stages of love; Betrayal reveals the dilemmas within a relationship; while Exile presents selfishness, hysteria and the mental struggle of traditional beliefs of marriage.
As a new modern dance group, BCDT has been continually striving to be different. During the year it has launched many new works with diverse styles, including the international collaboration Prism, a Chinese love story Stirred from a Dream and Haze with its heavy social themes.
"As modern dance develops to today, I don't think it is necessary to strictly develop a dance style under a certain system," Wang explained. "I won't pay much attention to developing my dance systems but I believe if I insist on my own creations and continually work on that, even I will change my style sometimes, I will still style using my features and my specialties."
"In the early stage of modern dance, the major American dance troupes, such as JoséLimón's and Martha Graham's, all styled and developed their own form of movements to separate their dance from ballet. These dance systems have become their feature and the culture of each dance troupe," Wang added.
During US President Barack Obama's visit to China, BCDT, in collaboration with the Beijing New Music Ensemble, organized the Obama Welcome Concert at Beijing's Penghao Theater. Although Obama ended up being too busy to attend, the concert received glowing reviews on the White House's website.