Recently I was given the good fortune to attend a rehearsal for the piece Farewell which is soon to be performed by Spectrum Dance Theater at The Moore Theater downtown. Thanks to Josh Windsor, the new Marketing and Development Manager at Spectrum, I got a sneak preview of the show and heard a little about the inspiration and realization of the performance.
Donald Byrd, Spectrum's Artistic Director, has launched a three part initiative/series that addresses cultural awareness. Farewell is the second in the series and examines parallels between the events of 9/11 and the Tiananmen Square massacres. Byrd lists the novel, Beijing Coma by: Ma Jian, as a primary influence for the piece. The story is that of a graduate student who is shot in the head during the protests in Tiananmen Square. Like the novel, Farewell also features a coma victim who comes in and out of consciousness to discover that his reality is altered.
The dance features a mixture of martial arts and classical Chinese dance. Some parts included the dancers doing listless movements that made them appear to be bodies that were being moved around by other dancers. The combination of these movements and audio from actual interviews of students that witnessed the events of the Tiananmen Square massacre was moving. I could not help but thinking; these dancers are so young and the people who died in the square were also so young. It was a saddening realization.
The event will premiere February 18th, 19th, and 20th at 8pm and I am certain it will be even more amazing than the rehearsal, which itself was wonderful. The completed piece will feature photographs and imagery of both 9/11 and the events of Tiananmen Square as well as live music. During the discussion after the rehearsal someone asked about the different instruments being used and Byron Au Yong, the composer, mentioned a few instruments including a bicycle wheel. I thought that perhaps that was the name of an instrument and turned to ask my friend Kristen about it, thinking that she was more musically knowledgeable than I. But then Au Yong returned to center stage with an actual bicycle wheel in hand and described how the spokes of it could be played with a bow. I learn something new everyday.
I cannot wait to see the completed piece.
For Tickets to Farewell
* On this page there is a preview video that is really fascinating and shows interview snippets with Donald Byrd and Byron Au Yong. Also the dancer with really blond hair is a girl named Tory Peil and she is positively amazing. They are all really amazing but the way that she moves is absolute perfection.
About Farewell and Spectrum
About the Dancers
Beijing Coma by: Ma Jian
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