Stage Review: Bahok at Tianqiao
To Khan or not to Khan?
London-based choreographer Akram Khan led his dance company, the Akram Khan Dance Company, to perform alongside the National Ballet of China at Beijing's Tiaoqiao Theater this past weekend. Akram Khan has been influential in bringing together two very different dancing traditions: modern dance and an Indian dance known as Kathak and his latest work, Bahok is no exception. Bahok is Bangladeshi for "carrier" and what Khan hopes to convey is how cultural identity can be carried using the body. The dance is set in a waiting room of a train station or airport departure lounge, with a large indicator board hanging from above the stage. However, the characters that emerge on the screen are not departure and arrival times but rather symbols that echo the scenes on stage. So, when the Korean dancer tells a story from his childhood and the words are played on the screen, the letters also zig-zag, Matrix like, emphasizing the confusion and tension between the characters when they are having a dance-off.
The dance started out like a play. The French actor-dancer begins a dialogue with a Chinese dancer-actor about their origins, and where she is headed (which remains vague). The French dancer concludes that she is lost. From this starting point, the dance traces the cultural and ethnic identities of the dancers themselves – from Chinese to Korean, from French to Indian. The interesting thing that Khan (who did not take to the stage) did was highlight the national heritage of each of his dancers. The Indian dancer engaged in what I can only imagine was Kathak, the Korean in noticeably East Asian moves, and the Chinese dancer had, at one point, her hands twirl and twist in the air – reminiscent of certain forms of ethnic Chinese dancing from Yunnan (but without the flowery embroidered hairstyle).
The performance also contained quite a lot of dialogue, the most thought-provoking of which involved the Chinese dancers and combined well with the dancing. In one scene, the three Chinese dancers (two talented female dancers and one gangly but nonetheless gifted, male dancer, from the Chinese National Ballet Company.) engaged in what they are trained to do: traditional ballet. As one leggy and doll-like Chinese ballerina pirouetted, the other Chinese dancers stood by giving enthusiastic though stern pointers.
Aside from these more traditional elements, Bahok also showcased some of the most original modern dance that has ever been performed in Beijing. The contemporary dance elements were not lost, but enhanced by different traditional techniques. Gathered on one stage, the dancers did a couple of duets and one electric ensemble dance. Just as the final curtain was about to fall, the meaning that all the dancers were searching for was revealed: we all need to find home, no matter where we are.
