Review- The Dream of the Red Chamber- Hong Kong Ballet
27-10-13
By: Leeann Bennett
Everyone well knows that while most efforts in mixing Eastern and Western elements do birth something new, it’s not always a guaranteed success. As a purist in many ways, I am usually skeptical about how well the two extremes of perspective can mingle to become anything more than a drab grey of confused vision. Yes, sometimes it's interesting but sometimes it's downright horrifying. (No matter what anyone says kimchi burgers are a bad idea.)
The Dream of the Red Chamber from the outside seemed like an intriguing idea. Taking a masterpiece in Chinese literature, a piece of writing so lauded that it spawned it’s own field of study and then transfer that story into a wordless performance dance that has its own French vocabulary. An 18th century story meets classical ballet in the 21st century. I was sure it would be interesting if nothing else.
It was beautiful. Hauntingly powerful scores coupled with flowing strong choreography against a cleverly constructed backdrop. Li Jia-bo plays the lead male character Pao Yu, the son of a rich and powerful family. He has his heart set on his cousin Dai Yu danced exquisitely by Lio Yu-yao however Dai Yu has a sister, Pao Tschai played by Zhang Si Yuan. Unbeknown to all the characters, a sentient stone falls to earth, played by Ricky Hu. This stone becomes the destiny of Pao Yu and Pao yu will end up marrying Pao Tschai much to his despair.
Frank Fellmann impressed mightily with his set design, not only the falling gate and the moving set that seemed to grow and solidify as if turning from dream to reality to the tree with falling snow in the garden. It was just enough to create the illusions of opulent chambers or delicate gardens without being overpowering or distracting.
I wasn’t disappointed by the costumes. I loved the “water sleeves” and the dance that went with the extravagantly long sleeves, which of course leads me to the choreography. Fluid, ethereal and enchanting, Wang Xin Peng, had me falling in love with the dancers, his choreography melding smoothly from the unbelievably fluid moves of classical ballet when lovers danced to a rigid, twisting, almost convulsive yet strangely compelling dance of the stone.
The music was the part I worried about. Traditional Chinese music being so different from the orchestral pieces we expect with a traditional Western ballet but it worked out well. Some acts had music clearly bringing to mind Chinese instruments. The rest of the time, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta played music by Michael Nyman. For the unenlightened, watch The Piano and listen. The music was potent, compelling and evocative of yearning expectation that never solidifies. Pretty much what happens on stage with the dancers. All that flowing longing between two lovers ends with the lead character marrying the wrong girl because of his family.
However, I have to be completely honest. I didn’t get the story. Not from the ballet, nor did reading the program shed much light on the matter. My first response to the first act featuring the story of stone was a big resounding question mark in my head. I was a bit confused at times on who was who. What exactly did the stone have to do with the destinies of the lead character?
To be fair, a wordless dance was never going to encapsulate all the complexities and themes in this story but a little better understanding of the plot might have helped the audience. My confusion with the story notwithstanding, the magical bit was that I didn’t care. I was captivated, literally from the moment the curtain was raised to the moment it went down. I understood enough about the longing felt by the characters, the shy yet earnest affection from the two lovers, the fear and confusion when it all just doesn’t go to plan.
Yes the style of dance is clearly western ballet but there’s so much inspired by Chinese opera incorporated into the choreography, the costumes and the music. Fusing East and West only works if the elements meld seamlessly. If the flavours, the styles, the perspectives match in ways that make it seem as if it was entirely natural and even if the story did not transpire on stage, everything else did.
The ticket prices fluctuate from the higher end (the circle, 1500hkd) to the lower end (the balcony, 140hkd). Some people may pause before opening their wallets for the expensive seats but I walked out filled with yearning, not just because of the evocative music and dance but because I wanted to see more.
The Dream of the Red Chamber is playing at The Grand Cultural Center through November 3rd. For more information, click here.
Editor's Note: The original version of this review had the names of the lead performers switched. (The girl was the boy, the boy was the girl...) We apologize for the mistake. It has been corrected.
Comments
Ari
I really loved it but the story line was very confusing. If I had not grown up with it I would have been lost as well!
27 October 2013Maggie
I'm afraid you've mixed up the dancers in your review. Pao Yu was danced by the male soloist Li Jia-bo, while Pao Tschai was performed by the female soloist Zhuang Si Yuan.
28 October 2013danwi
Sorry to say that I didn't really enjoy it. I loved Anna Karenina the week before as the ballet moves were incredible, but Dream of the Red Chamber appeared slow and simplistic that in many ways wouldn't have needed a ballet company to perform. I also did not understand the story and hated the fashion show part, the modern day tree cutter with his chainsaw, the strange green dancers and also the part where those 3 people kept coming onto the stage and sitting down doing not much to the same repetitive music. Sorry for my negative comments, but I really didn't enjoy it.
28 October 2013Horrible
What a horrible ballet. So stupid. A rock? Someone was dressed as a stupid rock!
29 October 2013