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Sylvie Guillemand Akram Khan March 2007 Hong Kong, Cultural Centre by Kevin Ng |
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The first dance offering of this year's Hong Kong Arts Festival was Sylvie Guillem in Akram Khan's "Sacred Monsters" premiered last September at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. This was Guillem's first ever appearance in Hong Kong. Hong Kong audiences missed out on the star's distinguished career as a classical ballerina before she started dancing a reduced classical repertory in favour of contemporary choreography. Another star Mikhail Baryshnikov, shown by the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2001 with his White Oak Project, also devoted himself to contemporary choreography after he gave up classical ballet in his early 40s. The big theme running through this absorbing 70-minute dance-theatre work is an adult's fond memories of childhood; and how an adult can still keep up a child's innoccent state of wonder - 'emerveille', as Guillem spoke in French. It was a delightful surprise to experience Guillem's acting talent. Both Guillem and Khan had extensive dialogue in this work reminiscing about their childhood. Khan spoke in the begining of the work of his approach to Krishna, the most human of the Indian gods, and of his going bald. Guillem later spoke of Sally, Charlie Brown's little sister. The name is meaningful to her because her classmates called her "Sally" in school. A hilarious episode saw Guillem speaking fluently in Italian to Khan who understood not a word. Another serious theme emerged in the second half of the work - the uniting of Western and Asian cultures in harmony. Of course most members of the audience had come to see Guillem the dancer, more than Guillem the actress, and in this they weren't disappointed. Early on in the piece, there was a fascinating solo specially choreographed for Guillem by the Taiwanese choreographer Lin Hwai-Min, who is the director of the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. It showed off Guillem's best features, notably her perfect arched foot and her trademark six-o-clock extensions. It's a meditative solo which gradually intensified in force and speed. Guillem as always is a compelling dancer with perfect control of every step. As a contrast Akram Khan's virtuosic Kathak solo, choreographed by Gauri Sharma Tripathi, was a brilliant rhythmic tour de force with many sharp changes in direction, but graced by a lot of arm flourishes. There were four pas de deux in this piece between the two solos and the spoken episodes. The best duet was the third which symbolised the reconciliation of the Western and Asian discipline. It was warm and emotionally resonant. The images of Guillem wrapping her legs round Khan's waist, and of both continuously echoing each other in wide steps were unforgettable. The work ended on a high note with a light-hearted 'skipping' pas de deux. In the meet-the-artists session with the audience after the opening night's performance, Guillem mentioned that she will dance the white act of "Swan Lake" again in Japan this December.
A part of this review first appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Journal.
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