More Than Just a Pretty Face
A review of Ying Yun (英云), premiered at The Scotiabank Dance Center on February 19th to 23rd 2019 by Charlotte Telfer-Wan
 |
| “Wen Wei Dance presents Ying Yun (英云)” |
Bleach white costumes, unifying breath, and carefully crafted movement motifs pulled me into the performance of Wen Wei Wang’s Yin Yun (英云). The shapes and sounds created by the dancers were familiar to me like visiting an old friend who had grown up. In his hour long contemporary dance piece, Wang poured his admiration of women, specifically in remembrance of his late mother Ying Yun (英云), into the movement of Stephanie Cyr, Eden Solomon, Eowynn Enquist, Daria Mykhaylayuk, and Sarah Formosa. The dancers collaborated with their male mentor Wang and the media artist Sammy Chien to share how gender has manifested itself in their lives (Wen Wei Dance). Wang devoted himself to create a platform for their unique qualities, to bring their individuality and strength to the light of the stage. Stated in the program, this piece was also an extension of Voice (2017), a piece Wang had created at Simon Fraser University (SFU) two years ago in which I performed in. Both pieces were collaborative, both showcased beauty and power in women with their own choreography, collective breathing, and support for one another. Women, specifically the performers in these pieces, were key figures necessary to understand Wang’s concept and intent. The choreography was deeply personal and the movement was individual to each dancer. However, dance is a medium that exists in the moment, after the curtain has closed ownership is slowly translated to the choreographer. I argue that in pieces such as Ying Yun (英云), where the concept is reliant on the dancer's contributions of presence and individuality, performers yield importance and should take just as much precedent as the choreographer when the piece is presented, remembered, and when it is reworked.
The five women first caught my attention with their bodies facing away from the audience. They held me in suspense. The dancers were dressed in white costumes although the tops and shorts looked more like whites strips plasters to their skin. There was no sound at first but the room was not silent. The women’s breath filled the air. They began in unison, inhaled and exhaled together with movement that filled the space. My attention was grabbed by the surprising steps followed by intense extensions. Their bodies reached limits, stretching and recoiling limbs through extreme angles. The piece was composed of three sections. The first section was an introduction of the bodies and personalities that would be occupying our gaze for the next hour. The dancers showed their strengths as a group by unifying their breath to move together, connected but not touching through the musical phrasing of their steps. There were horizontal white lines travelling down the back wall paralleling the costumes. The projected lines and white costumes were like bands, tying these women to themselves and to each other. The unison movement slowly disintegrated into solos and duets uncovering different personalities within the choreography. In the second part a striking circle appeared on the back wall of the stage and was slowly covered like solar eclipse measuring time to the end of its life. The projection slightly resembled the face of a skull sprayed with many colours. The nature of the piece grew dark with this image accompanied by more daunting music. The movement was more intense, less reserved, and bold. The dancers used the tension in their musculature and gaze to emphasize risky movement. One of the most striking moments was when one of the dancers fell like a plank on the front of her body and was resurrected by the others. They played with abstracted cliches of a “womanly walk”, swaying their hips side to side, as well as peering at the audience as if we were a mirror. The last section was a resolve, each dancer now settled in their bodies and more individual than ever. The movement was mostly solo material with motifs borrowed from earlier in the performance. The dancers told their own story but often adopted their peers into a solo to form a duet. We saw motifs of distorted ballet cliches and contortion. The five performers appeared free through their styles, they drew our interest into the movement as we discovered what it meant to embody a discourse of femininity together.
 |
| Randle, Chris. “Stéphanie Cyr, Eden Solomon, Eowynn Enquist, Daria Mikhaylyuk, and Sarah Formosa in Ying Yun” |
A creation process is rarely a one man show but a collaboration between dancer and choreographer, and the performance a shared enterprise. According to the program and interview with dancer Daria Mykhaylyuk by Elizabeth Newton, the movement in Ying Yun (英云) was generated as a collaboration between the dancers and choreographer, as was the material in Voice (2017). The performers in both pieces were integral to portray the female form and disposition through movement. An embodied sense of gender explained by Henderson is created through observation and by practicing perceived and learned communications, in this case through the body. The choreography in Ying Yun (英云) was clear in translating this embodiment specific to the lives of the women dancing; the movement satisfied the conversation of their power, confidence, and beauty. What happens when the show is over and the dancers are no longer on the stage? When the dancers are no longer present to make the connection between the performance and the concept? Performers have been conditioned to think their role of an interpreter is less significant than that of the choreographer; Lindley states, “Historically, that ride has served to obliterate the names of some of the most gifted, enterprising, and energetic women the world has known.” (Lindley 233) The five women in Ying Yun (英云) are integral to the piece, not just their movement but the incredible way they represent women. Ying Yun (英云) would no longer serve its purpose if their significance no longer acknowledged.
It is unavoidable to consider the roles of gender when it comes to performing arts; “That is what theatrical discourses do, among other things. It may even be their single most important function. Theatrical performers, whatever else they represent on stage, represent gender.” (Lindley 232). The female cast in Ying Yun (英云) was curated to bring light and importance to their gender. With a man as the curator, it necessary to consider roles of gender in this collaboration. When men move into an industry dominated with women such as dance they are distinguished from their female colleagues Coulangeon et al. This is amplified by the topic Wang has chosen to research. In this instance Wang used his power as a choreographer to pursue a concept of a culture that is not his own. He took ownership over the identity of these women and placed his name on their representation of womanhood. It is not enough show empowerment by giving women an opportunity to show themselves on stage. It is the responsibility of the man that took on such a topic to continue its significance off stage. What can Wang do to ensure the consideration of his cast and for the hierarchy of his gender does not reverse the intention of his work?
In a world where gender stigmatism is readily attacked, the past, and future consideration of dancers in Ying Yun (英云) is just as significance as the present. Unfortunately over the past two years I, along with sixteen other women have lost recognition of our collaboration in the wake of Wang’s new research and continuation with this concept. I had no idea he had been expanding his piece Voice (2017). Although I am flattered that I have contributed to this new creation I was astonished by how familiar the movement on stage was as I watched it unfold. This is evidence of Margaret Lindley’s suggestion that when the curtain closes on a performance as an audience we dispossess the performers and those who represent gender in the work. That separation of the creator and created, is a matter of casual convenience in a society that then assumes individual ownership of products (Lindley 238). Lindley uses the example of Cherubini’s opera Médée (1797), forgotten until rejuvenated by the performances of Therese Tietjens in 1865 and Maria Callas in 1953. Their exceptional presentations of Cherubini’s work helped ensure his reputation while their own lack acknowledgment (Lindley 238). Not every morsel of information from a creative process can be remembered and documented but it is not to be overlooked. Ying Yun (英云) is a collaboration and a situation that is controversial without consideration of the dancers, they are the subject matter and imperative to Wang’s interpretation of gender.
Will each dancer in Ying Yun (英云) be remembered as more than a pretty face? I have no doubt that dancers Stephanie Cyr, Eden Solomon, Eowynn Enquist, Daria Mykhaylayuk, and Sarah Formosa had integral roles in the creation of the piece. In an interview with Elizabeth Newton, Daria explained “...the discussion seems to be always present in the physical material we are generating together.” The movement in Ying Yun (英云) had quirks, intricacies, and abnormalities that were specific to each woman; this embodiment placed the piece apart from work with female dominated casts I’ve seen before. The women took on the role of creating and presenting unbound feminine energy, well representing gender and themselves. The acknowledgment of this role is another matter, “The performer's product, the performance, does not vanish with the falling of the curtain. In a world obsessed with physical, claimable artifacts, we have learned to devalue both aural and visual memory.” (Lindley 238). Wang’s job now is just more than just curating and choreographing, he has taken on the responsibility for his conceptual interpretation of women and therefore the duty to ensure acknowledgment of women in his cast. Their positions must be honored for this piece to hold its relevance; in any new iteration of Ying Yun (英云), in any thought or piece of writing, these performers deserve recognition, as much a part of the creation as the choreographer.
Comments
Post a Comment