Audience Reviews

AUDIENCE REVIEW: PY Contemporary Dance Company Presents "Clothes" in Dali, Yunnan, China

Company:
PY Dance Company

Performance Date:
2026.1.1

Freeform Review:

Presented as part of the 1.1 New Year Crossing Performance in Dali in China's Yunnan Province, Clothes by PY Contemporary Dance Company unfolds quietly, almost without announcement, drawing the audience into an intimate encounter with movement, nature, and the fragile presence of life.

The performance begins 7 o’clock from outdoors, in a garden under moonlight. There is no clear starting point — no stage, no fixed seating. As the audience enters the space, garments appear everywhere: draped over tree branches, scattered among fallen leaves, resting casually on the ground. Nothing feels arranged or symbolic in an obvious way; the clothes exist as part of the landscape, as natural as the trees and earth around them.

Dancers move through this environment with a sense of ease and attentiveness, responding to the textures of the garden — the crunch of leaves beneath their feet, the reach of branches above, the stillness of the night air. Their bodies do not dominate the space but coexist within it. The scene suggests an ancient image: taking the sky as a blanket and the earth as a bed. Here, the work gently reframes the relationship between humans and nature, not as separation, but as shared presence.

Without a clear break, seven dancers begin to lead the audience indoors. The transition feels less like a shift of venue and more like a continuation of the same journey. Inside the theatre, the atmosphere becomes more focused, more contained. The indoor section unfolds as a 20-minute choreography, beginning with a single dancer moving freely before lying still on the floor.

As other dancers enter, they dance around and above the motionless body. Gradually, they remove their clothing. The garments are placed onto the dancer lying on the ground, layer by layer. As movement continues around them, the still body becomes increasingly covered, almost buried. What was once animated through dancing now lies lifeless.

This moment becomes the emotional core of Clothes. When clothes are worn and moved in, they seem alive; when separated from the body, they become empty forms. The work quietly suggests that life exists only through movement—that without motion, presence fades. The dancer on the floor, covered and unmoving, reads not as a person but as a reminder of what remains when vitality disappears.

Cooperative with PY dance company, choreographer Zhaotian Wang demonstrates a clear sensitivity to environment as metaphor. Rather than relying on narrative or linear storytelling, Wang allows space, objects, and atmosphere to function symbolically, shaping how the choreography is perceived and felt. Meaning is not imposed but suggested — emerging through images, actions, and relationships between bodies and their surroundings. This openness invites each viewer to encounter the work differently, to recognize moments that resonate on a personal level. In Clothes, metaphor becomes a shared language rather than a fixed message, allowing the performance to remain fluid, subjective, and quietly expansive.

Rather than telling a story, choreographer traces a cycle: emergence, animation, accumulation, stillness, and disappearance. It is a work that resists spectacle and instead invites contemplation. By weaving together natural space, human bodies, and the simple act of removing and discarding clothing, PY Contemporary Dance Company offers a restrained yet resonant reflection on how life comes into being — and how gently it can dissolve.