Through the unique medium of body, the lens is focused at the individuals, who are hustling in the diverse metropolis – Shanghai, and tries to explore the relationship between these individuals and the space. Living in such a city, everyone is subject to tangible or intangible constraints. In this work, the real society is scaled down to a miniature. The model and device constructed on the stage represent and symbolize the relationship between the individual and the society as well as between the body and the space. The work intends to discovery the alien aesthetics hidden in the human body, the tenacious vitality of the human beings in a limited space, and the inner momentum generated through resistance against the space.
Whiptakes its inspiration from a folk dance of the Bai called The Whip Dance. It is the most popular one of Bais seventy four folk dance genres. The Whip Dance is saturated with Bais history and customs. It represents their humor, primitive simplicity, elegance and energy. This is Jilans first international collaboration, working with the talented London based Hong Kong composer Joanne Clara and Marie Cantenys, a famous cloth designer from France. The lighting design is by Fabiana Piccioli who is based in Rome and has long cooperation with Akram Khan. Farooq Chaudhry, the co-founder of Akram Khan Dance Company, is the producer of Whip.
Great Volume Songs of the Bai People is a form of storytelling and is the intangible cultural heritage of Dali Prefecture, Yunnan province. This art form matured in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and gradually declined afterwards. This work combines Great Volume Songs of the Bai People with drama, physical theatre, and modern puppet show. The plot is based on the story of two village gods Baijie and Lord of East Mountain who are a loving couple in Benzhuism (the worship of local gods) which is the indigenous religion typical of the Bai People. The focus of the story is on the couple wearing the wrong shoes, while the play uses the ancient anecdote about the two gods to explore the philosophical issue of freedom and bondage in marriage from a contemporary perspective.
The libretto of this work has been adapted from The Painted Skin, a short story by the Qing Dynasty writer Pu Songling. Its strange plot and strong moral message have made it a classic. Our version seeks to interpret Pus story from a modern perspective, adding new layers by fleshing out the characters inner worlds and exploring the moral message of the story, which raises eternal themes of desire, temptation, sacrifice, and free choice.Both the music and libretto embody Chinese elements, and the stage action integrates physical movement with singing in a profound way. On these two foundations we hope to bring about an innovation in the form of classical Western opera and give this classic tale a new life on stage.
The work is based on The Old Man and the Sea, one of the most famous novel of E. M. Hemingway. The suppositive way and the realistic style used by it shapes the collision and fusion between Chinese culture and the Western. Its stylization, virtuality, minimalism and form sense are the basic principles that have formed the work. What performs in the stage is a recreation of the work with the elements of traditional Chinese theatrical art. The combination of traditional impressionism and modern realism in the field of drama shortens the mental distance between stage and audience and also creates a special experience in both real life and art performance for the audience.
The leading creator attempts to focus on the average age of 70 years old who living in the remote areas and having been engaged in the primary industry for a long time.They think those people also have the right to express art. Those old people use their nearly a century of world cognition and the most primitive impulses to paint. They record their life, painting state, and the changes after painting, and then display these "virgins" and video materials to show their different life and artistic practice status.This is the first one of their works, and perhaps their last one.