COCK-PIT choreography by Wen Wei Wang, presented by DanceWorks, L’Agora de la Danse and the National Arts Centre at the Fleck Dance Theatre (207 Queens Quay West). Friday and Saturday (April 9-10) at 8 pm. $28, some discounts. 416-973-4000. See listing.
Wen Wei Wang continues to mine his Chinese heritage for unique dance pieces.[rssbreak]
In Unbound, performed here in 2006, the Vancouver-based choreographer unravelled secrets about the cruel tradition of female foot-binding. His latest work, suggestively titled Cock-Pit, cracks open the door on boyhood sexuality Chinese-style.
It’s inspired by Wang’s preadolescent years in a dance boarding school run by China’s People’s Liberation Army. He roomed with four other boys, separated from girls by a single floor but also by lots of mystery.
“Remember, there was no sex education,” says the choreographer on the phone from Vancouver on the eve of his company’s cross-country tour.
“We were all far away from our homes and parents. Nobody told us our bodies would be changing. We didn’t know anything. Some of us had wet dreams, which we thought was pee, but a little different. We pulled out the few strands of facial hair. We were afraid to ask anyone about these changes, so we explored each other and compared stories.”
To evoke this innocent world of self-discovery, Wang has used wild pheasant feathers, common props from the world of Beijing opera, which he had to order from China. Each dancer – there are four males and one female – straps a 4-foot-long feather to a different body part.
“When we began rehearsals, I asked the dancers to improvise. I was fascinated by how the feathers moved on the body and if they suggested a story. Eventually, they became a metaphor, something to take you into other worlds.”
One of the most provocative deployments of the feather, of course, has it jutting out, phallus-style.
“As soon as the dancer put the feather on his waist, the image changed,” he says, laughing. “You didn’t have to use words it said something the audience could immediately read.”
The single female in the piece, he says, stands for the mother figure, but also for that elusive person of the opposite sex in the boys’ imagination.
“The piece is about sexuality, but it’s not about sex,” he says. “It’s pure, like seeing animals at play.”
That’s also suggested by the use of sound. Each dancer communicates not with words but using one of those unmistakable tones from Beijing opera.
“There’s something innocent and basic about their arguing onstage,” he says. “There’s lots of humour in the piece. Unbound was very serious. I want Cock-Pit to be fun.”
glenns@nowtoronto.com
