Chinese cultural icon, dancer and choreographer Jin Xing brought her Dance Theatre Shanghai to the Eisenhower Auditorium stage Wednesday night at Penn State. The company offered an accomplished performance combined with stunning visual imagery and mesmerizing choreography.
The performance was interesting in that its style was rather familiar and looked very much like the contemporary dance theater one might expect from most American companies. Also, the majority of the 10 pieces seemed to be filled with suggestive sexuality and taboo behaviors.
Make no mistake: This was a highly entertaining and beautiful evening of dance. Jin Xing appears to be fond of stark contrasts between light and dark, often using brilliant colors against a black background. There was no scenery with each dance, drawing the eye to the brightly colored costumes and the pinpoint focus of lighting instruments.
The playbill informed the audience that Jin Xing was born as a man in China, joined the People’s Liberation Army, rose to the rank of colonel and later received permission from the Chinese government to be reassigned as a woman. This transformation rises to the surface in her dancing and we can intuitively sense her struggle with, and triumph over, her own sexual identity.
The central piece of the evening, “Shanghai Tango” was based on a Chinese folk tale depicting the story of a woman torn between her love for her husband and her strong attraction to a lover. At first, it seemed the audience was being led down the proverbial garden path. As the dance began, it seemed intent on convincing the audience that she had an unnatural and taboo attraction to her eldest son. As the dance moved forward with the narrative, we begin to realize that it was, in fact, her lover and not her son.
The first piece, titled “Opening,” offered an otherworldly bride — or so it seemed — spinning mechanically atop some unseen wedding cake. It was a highly theatrical way to get the evening started.
The company of 13 dancers, plus Jin Xing, filled the stage with a variety of styles, occasionally incorporating classical ballet moves with an acrobatic sensibility and modern angularity.
A suggestive duet was interesting, if inscrutable, as two male dancers who looked like Apollo strutted elegantly across the stage. It was unclear if the dance was intended to be sexually suggestive or simply hypnotic gymnastics.
The influence of Jin Xing’s younger days came to the forefront in her dance called “Monologue.” Here, the influence of Martha Graham is unmistakable. Watching Jin Xing’s body positioning combined with the use of the flowing white dress she wore made the influence hard to miss. As a young dancer, Xing studied with the legendary Graham.
The dance company was excellent and the final piece of the evening, “Sense of Colors,” really put the troupe’s talents to use as the dancers electrified the audience with energy and colorful costumes.
Harry Zimbler can be reached at cdtweekender@centredaily.com.
