BY WENDY ZHANG
Tales of 12 Chinese Zodiac
China Oriental Performing Arts Group
Produced by China Arts and Entertainment, presented by Ausfeng
Sydney State Theatre
21 November
What is your Chinese zodiac sign? And what characteristics and personalities does your zodiac animal exhibit?
The Tales of 12 Chinese Zodiac showcased each of the zodiac animals through a little story, carefully constructed through brilliant choreography and music, making it one of the most memorable cultural performances I have attended. What makes this performance particularly unique was the use of international percussion instruments that resembled the sounds of nature throughout the four seasons.
A dancer dressed in red and white hit the gongs three times, marking the start of the zodiac cycle of life and also start of this performance. It was interesting that most zodiac stories in this performance were based on Chinese legend and history, and appeared in the order of the historical events rather than the zodiacs’ chronological order, adding cultural and historical significance to the performance.
First up was a group of oxen ploughing the field, representing Pangu separating the sky from the earth and building the world, according to the program. They appeared one by one onto the stage, then moved steadily along in groups of two or three, resembling the hard-working nature of this zodiac creature. The background music was slow and melodic, with a steady beat which the oxen moved and danced to. What struck me most was the facial expressions of these dancers – they all looked fierce and determined, and it was quite powerful together with the music and choreography.
With a change of music, the tigers came on stage and each carried a drumstick; the program explained that they were signaling the prosperous Qin and Han dynasties when the Emperor of Qin first unified China. There were two drummers in the centre of the stage, hitting the drums and creating beats for the fearless tigers. They started slow and then moved to extremely fast, which added to the excitement of the dance. The background screen showed a golden tiger running, and the dancers ran along with the tiger in a unified motion. Again, it was the facial expression of the dancers that captured my attention – the fearless look and intense gaze that personified tiger as the leader of the pack and first emperor of the unified China.
The fourth scene – The rats fight and frolic – was hilarious. Four rats each carried a percussion instrument, and danced around a table and a chair whilst playing the percussion instruments from traditional Peking operas. The four dancers made the sneaky and cheeky rats come alive through their body movements and especially animated facial expressions, and the audience laughed throughout this scene. There were Chinese acrobatics involved in the dancing, and combined with the Peking opera percussion instruments, it made this highly entertaining to watch.
The female dancer who led the snake and rooster dances was magnificent in portraying the sensuous side of both animals: the snake dance was erotic as she was dressed from head to toe in white and carried a red umbrella, moving her entire body in big waves, with other dancers dressed in green all following her. The lighting was dark and dreamy, and one could almost feel the coolness of the air through the atmosphere, dance, and music.
The revolutionary monkey was my favourite scene of the performance. It was loosely based on the story of the monkey king, as he was trapped in a cave for many years before he finally broke free and became the omnipotent monkey king. There were two parts in the scene; the first was when he was trapped and blocked by a group of men dressed in black with long sticks. The music was intense, the lighting was dark, and his loneliness and desperation clearly written on his face. He tried many times to break his confines but was hit back by the long sticks. The second part was his transformation to the monkey king – a second dancer appeared, fully dressed up in the monkey king costume, looking confident and carrying his signature weapon (the golden long stick). It was a compelling scene, portraying the ideas of confinement, freedom, and transformation visually through having two dancers on stage to represent the before and after of the monkey king.
The zodiac scenes were broken by short episodes depicting the four seasons, highlighted by various international percussion instruments imitating the sound of nature. In the goat scene, a guy played on a UFO-shaped instrument called Hang to accompany the goat dancing, and it sounded Zen and meditative with a hollow centre which heightened the spirit of the dance. In the Summer scene, the instrumentalists played on percussion instruments I’ve never seen before, which made the sound of water, thunder, and frogs. In Autumn, there was the appearance of Anklong – an Indonesian percussion instrument which depicted the sound of wind and nature beautifully. The amount of detail that went into making the sound authentic was astounding, and it provided an aural feast for the audience to appreciate the sound of nature through all these various percussion instruments.
The final scene saw all the zodiac dancers come onto the stage to play drums in unison. The audience clearly adored the performance and gave a standing ovation. I enjoyed every minute of it, and developed a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Chinese history and zodiac animals from the performance.
Images supplied.
