Rehearsal site of the play ‘Dancing with P’, which questions tradition through dialogue and movement
“I have never experienced ‘Tanz (German for dance)’. I only had a vague longing and anticipation. However, I think that in September 2024, I might be someone who embodies Tanz with words and body movements.”
An empty stage, six chairs, and a stand microphone. A tape on a reel deck (a type of analog audio device) rolls, and a mechanical voice occasionally flows out. A character who twirls one ankle and stands precariously on tiptoe speaks. “I wanted to touch and taste even a crumb of the stories that still remain like legends behind Pina’s name.”
On the 11th, I visited the rehearsal site of the play ‘Dancing with P’, which discusses the direction in which tradition should proceed between the past and present through ‘the legend of modern dance’ Pina Bausch (1940-2009). Pina was a choreographer and dancer who revolutionized the modern dance world while leading the German dance company ‘Wuppertal Tanztheater’. A work that explores his dance tradition that has been passed down around the world even after his death will be performed at the LG Arts Center Seoul in Gangseo-gu, Seoul from the 28th to the 6th of next month.
The play is based on interviews with about 10 dancers from the Wuppertal Tanztheater. The interviews, which took place over three years starting in 2021, cover the first generation of dancers in their late 70s who danced with Pina long ago, as well as the third generation of young dancers who joined the company after Pina passed away and are currently active. The six cast members, including actor Sung Soo-yeon and dancer Hwang Soo-hyun, who participated in the interviews and production, lead the play as “themselves” without any virtual roles.
The work focuses on the balance that tradition must maintain between original transmission and ‘creative destruction’. Director Lee Kyung-sung, who won the New Concept Theater Award at the 47th Dong-A Theater Awards, directed the work. He said in the rehearsal room, “It’s not a play that simply worships Pina. It focuses on the process in which the first to third generation dancers each denied the past and pursued newness.” He continued, “I tried to incorporate into the work the idea that tradition can coexist with the present only when the past and the future converse.”
This sense of balance is metaphorically expressed through dialogue and movement. A representative scene is the scene where they teach and learn each other the ‘push-the-ground’ movement, which is the basis of dance. Dancer Jeong Jae-pil slowly pushes the ground with one foot to shift his center of gravity, then staggers but regains his center and stands up. Actor Na Kyung-min adds, “It is an act of those who are conflicted between wanting to stay and wanting to leave, reestablishing their relationship with themselves and the world.”
For the audience who are not familiar with Pina, a chatbot appears. ‘Pinabot’, created with ChatGPT, intervenes in the conversations between characters and naturally conveys information related to Pina’s life and works. The director said, “We made it easier for the cast to understand by having Pinabot describe the symbolic choreography of the Wuppertal Tanztheater with words.”
Reporter Lee Ji-yoon [email protected]
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2024-09-19 22:33:36