Dance
✶ ✶ ✶ ✶
You can't help but wonder – not only the usual "how do they do that?" musings on the whirling, mid-air gymnastics of the Shaolin monks on-stage, but also "how heavy are the boxes?" The boxes being lid-less wooden coffin-sized oblongs the monks – even the youngest of them, a 10-year-old – continually push, pull and stack into a sub-text of visually striking patterns devised by choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and sculptor Antony Gormley.
At times it even seems as if the boxes have a life of their own, swarming over the stage like huge beetles with their occupants hidden from view. At one point, however, as the monks are dragging their boxes behind them, the empty "coffins" hint at the unseen baggage that dogs their heels as they strive – through the physical and philosophical regimen of their martial arts training – to reach enlightenment.
In Sutra, a Westerner – danced by Ali Thabet – enters into that journey, perhaps without realising how intense the processes are, even though some episodes feel like a merrily mischievous game. Perched on top of his own gleamingly metal box, he and the Little Monk initially arrange little model blocks... in a trice, the full-size blocks echo the shapes. A thread of action and reaction emerges, with the monks' agile, springing bodies in a perpetual dance with and against the forces of gravity. There are flashes of the scything bladework we associate with kung fu, but as the music for piano, strings and percussion (composed by Szymon Brzoska and played live) weaves in its own taut, muscular beauty, it is the risk-defying grace in precision that brings cheers to the throat.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article