Review | Nine Songs by Helen Lai: 30th anniversary performance by Hong Kong Dance Company ‘magnificent’ and mesmerising
- Nine Songs was a tour de force of choreography, mesmerising scenes and music that drew on elements of Chinese opera
- The dancers, led by veteran principals Tina Hua Chi-yu and Huang Lei, performed with unwavering intensity and energy
Hong Kong Dance Company’s first ever staging of Helen Lai’s Nine Songs celebrates the 30th anniversary of this seminal work, which boasts not only choreography by Lai, doyenne of local choreographers, but music and designs by Oscar winners Tan Dun and Tim Yip – quite a pedigree.
Created in 1991 for City Contemporary Dance Company and performed to acclaim around the world, 30 years on, Nine Songs has lost none of its power. It remains utterly compelling to watch and was magnificently danced.
Based on Tan’s opera of the same name, itself inspired by Li Sao, an epic lament by third century statesman and poet Qu Yuan, Lai follows the composer in adopting a non-narrative, non-linear approach without sacrificing emotional force. Rites and rituals, marriages and mourning, war and worship, are evoked, yet not explicitly.
The nine scenes, from the electrifying opening Sun and Moon to the low key, enigmatic, closing Cycles, are mesmerising in their intensity and the inventiveness of the choreography. In the same way that Tan’s music draws on and yet subverts elements of Chinese opera and traditional music, Lai’s choreography offers echoes of Chinese dance used in an abstract way.
There’s also an intriguingly primitive feel in much of the movement, harking back not just to the era of Qu and the warring states but to the origins of dance itself. The performers whirl like dervishes or use their bodies to create bizarre, angular images reminiscent of insects. The choreography demonstrates Lai’s equal strength in creating expressive solos, spectacular duets (with the women literally running up their partners’ bodies) and dazzling ensemble sequences.
Also on show is her exceptional musicality. Tan’s score is not the kind of music you would normally think of dancing to, with its long drawn-out wailing notes and complex, eclectic rhythms, yet somehow Lai finds ways for the dancers’ bodies to match every note and beat, for instance in the thrilling fast runs on their toes for the women, packed with tiny, intricate steps.
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The only element which feels at all dated is the use of streams of coloured sand falling to the stage to mark climactic moments – and seeing the dancers perform with so much sand underfoot is a bit worrying from a health and safety standpoint – but this is a minor quibble in the context of this true modern classic.
Visually the production is stunning – the sombre palette where the only vivid colour is red (the backcloth glows deep red at times, the dancers’ hands and feet are coloured red) the brooding set and subtle, ingeniously varied black costumes by Yip and deputy designer Kaye Wai are a triumph, enhanced by Leo Cheung’s superb lighting design.
Above all, Nine Songs is a tour de force of dancing. The entire company performed with unwavering intensity and unflagging energy, striking the perfect balance between the discipline and precision on the one hand, freedom and abandon on the other, that the choreography demands. They were led by veteran principals Tina Hua Chi-yu and Huang Lei – as always with these two outstanding dancers, their astounding technical skills were subsumed into the total artistry, power and expressiveness of their performances.
Hong Kong Dance Company and Helen Lai: Nine Songs, Grand Theatre, Xiqu Centre. Reviewed November 26.
