Beijing Dance Theater returns to BAM with the US premiere of Wild Grass, Oct 15–18
Company:
Beijing Dance Theater
Beijing Dance Theater returns to BAM with the US premiere of Wild Grass, Oct 15–18
Wang Yuanyuan’s latest work is inspired by the poems of the iconic leftist writer Lu Xun
Bloomberg Philanthropies is the 2014-2015 Season Sponsor
Time Warner Inc. is the BAM 2014 Next Wave Festival Sponsor
Wild Grass (US Premiere)
Beijing Dance Theater
Choreography by Wang Yuanyuan
BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St)
Oct 15–18 at 7:30pm
Tickets start at $20
Master Class: Beijing Dance Theater
With Wang Yuanyuan
Mark Morris Dance Center (3 Lafayette Ave)
Oct 18 at 3pm
Price: $25
BAM.org/master-classes
Brooklyn, NY/Sep 3, 2014—Chinese choreographer Wang Yuanyuan and her Beijing Dance Theater return to BAM in Wild Grass, an evening-length work inspired by the poems of Lu Xun, one of the most iconic left-wing writers in Chinese literature. The piece celebrates the individual’s will to persevere in a hostile environment.
Comprising three distinct but related movements (“Dead Fire,” “Farewell, Shadows,” and “Dance of Extremity,”) Wild Grass evokes the imagery and sentiments of Lu’s poems. Dancers run, turn, scrape, and glide on three specially designed floors that also echo Lu’s atmospheric writing: “At the foot of the mountains grow icy trees, whose leaves resemble pine needles. All cold. All pale.” The dance features original music composed by Su Cong, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Score with Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Byrne for The Last Emperor in 1987.
Wang Yuanyuan’s dances grow out of the culture in which she lives and works. Her Raise the Red Lantern (2005 Next Wave) tackles the human cost of traditional Chinese family values. Haze (2011 Next Wave) addresses the energy and frantic pace of life in modern China. The Golden Lotus (later revised as Lotus) is based on a classical text which was banned for centuries for its eroticism and political insinuation. Wild Grass pays tribute to a writer revered by Mao Zedong but one who never fully embraced the Communist movement. A poet, novelist, essayist, translator, and literary critic, Lu Xun became the titular head of the League of Left-Wing Writers in 1930s Shanghai. He is considered one of China’s great writers of the 20th century and his work is often cited as the beginning of modern Chinese literature.
Photo by Han Jiang
