Review-Nordic Waves-Hong Kong Arts Festival
19-3-14
By: Meaghan McGurgan
It’s been 12 hours since I left the Cultural Center and I still have no idea what I watched last night. Nordic Waves was billed as two modern dance pieces from Scandinavian choreographers. It was described in the program as “two highly provocative yet markedly contrasted productions by female choreographers Elina Pirinen and Gunilla Heilborn. While both choreographers’ works exhibit the sleek, minimalist characteristics of Nordic arts and designs, each projects an entirely different tone and temperature onto the stage.” It might have been provocative, it certainly was inventive but I don’t know if the show last night was necessarily enjoyable to watch.
Both performances trod the line between modern dance and performance art and, for me, they were firmly on the performance art side. They didn’t dance enough for me to consider this a dance performance. More than 60% of “This is not a Love Story” was the two performers talking to each other and asking questions. We spent 10 minutes hearing a description of someone’s pants. We spent another 10 with the two of them lying on the floor, talking to the ceiling. The talking wouldn’t have been nearly as painful to sit through if the performers had used vocal variety or inflection in their voices. The monotone quality of their voices; paired with the nonsensical ramblings, left the whole performance confusing. I simply wanted them to shut up and dance. The dancing was enjoyable to watch but they didn't do enough of it.
Elina Pirinen’s piece contained more movement and had some beautiful dance technique by Vera Tegelman. The problem with “Lover of the Pianist” was that it relied heavily on audience participation which fell flat. Although, I did enjoy the basket of vegetables that was passed around the audience. I like any performer who allows people to throw veggies at them.
Overall, I think this was a problem of marketing miscommunication. We came to Nordic Waves expecting a dance piece and in a two hour show there was probably 30 minutes of actual dance technique. Performance art can often challenge the audience to think in new and unconventional ways, break conventions of the traditional arts and break down conventional ideas about "what art is”. Had Nordic Waves been billed as performance art rather than dance, I probably wouldn’t have walked away so confused on what their intentions as artists were.
When we were leaving the theatre I overheard many people talking about what we watched. “Well, it’s art,” someone sighed. Yeah... But not every piece of art is good.
Nordic Waves is now closed. For more information, click here.
Comments
Wyatt Wong
I watched the show last night and I agreed with Meaghan that there was no enough dance in the show. I sat far from the stage and I could not hear clearly what the actors of "This is not a Love Story" said.
19 March 2014