A\u00a0visit to\u00a0two groups this evening \u2013 Su Weichia\u2019s and\u00a0Guo Lei\u2019s \u2013\u00a0 and\u00a0it\u2019s the\u00a0first time I\u2019ve come away thinking about dancers being singled out. Both these groups feature one UK dancer within a\u00a0group of\u00a0Chinese dancers. Of\u00a0course, that\u2019s not the\u00a0only way of\u00a0looking at\u00a0the\u00a0groups \u2013 and\u00a0I’m conscious of\u00a0my\u00a0Londonist perspective coming into play, however epistemically reflexive I\u00a0try to\u00a0be about it \u2013 but it seems to\u00a0me that the\u00a0singling out isn\u2019t solely a\u00a0matter of\u00a0seeing one white caucasian performing in\u00a0an\u00a0otherwise Chinese group (though it is that too). There’s more going on.<\/p>\n
Su Weichia is working on\u00a0a\u00a0group section. His five female dancers travel slowly along a\u00a0diagonal, keeping close but not touching, their arms and\u00a0hands curling and\u00a0unfurling, heads swivelling up and\u00a0down and\u00a0round, feet slipping mollusc-like against the\u00a0floor, limbs wafting and\u00a0joints rotating as\u00a0if frictionless, well-oiled. It\u2019s like watching some kind of\u00a0composite sea-creature inch its way over coral, limb-like fronds filtering the\u00a0water around it.<\/p>\n
But the\u00a0UK dancer looks just a\u00a0little out of\u00a0place. She doesn’t quite belong. It\u2019s not to\u00a0do with skin colour, or\u00a0hair colour, or\u00a0build, or\u00a0any of\u00a0those brute factors of\u00a0physical appearance. It\u2019s a\u00a0quality of\u00a0action. All the\u00a0other dancers \u2013 including Su Weichia, when he demonstrates \u2013 have a\u00a0similar quality of\u00a0flow, of\u00a0articulation, that reminds me strongly of\u00a0the\u00a0Cloud Gate dancers, with their exceptional poise, controlled flow and\u00a0sense of\u00a0interiority. Like learning a\u00a0language, or\u00a0even changing your accent, these are not things you can acquire within a\u00a0fortnight. So I\u00a0feel a\u00a0little bad for\u00a0our singled-out dancer. We all know what it\u2019s like to\u00a0feel out of\u00a0place, when everyone else seems to\u00a0fit in\u00a0and\u00a0we don\u2019t, quite, no matter how we may try, or\u00a0try to\u00a0understand.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s Guo Lei\u2019s rehearsal. It\u2019s far more stylised, with masks and\u00a0counts, head wobbles, hand gestures that accent the\u00a0beat. I\u00a0can\u2019t tell how far it follows tradition, or\u00a0even which tradition it might follow \u2013 but it\u2019s certainly much more overtly “traditional” and\u00a0\u201cChinese\u201d. And\u00a0here, behind a\u00a0green mask, is a\u00a0single UK dancer. Am I\u00a0imagining her being singled out? The\u00a0Chinese dancers clearly have a\u00a0variety of\u00a0training and\u00a0are by\u00a0no means a\u00a0uniform group. Perhaps I’m being clued in\u00a0by\u00a0the\u00a0language: the\u00a0rehearsal is conducted in\u00a0Chinese, so any interpretation into English inevitably draws attention to\u00a0one dancer. But I\u00a0think it’s more than that. I\u00a0think this dancer looks singled out, a\u00a0little out of\u00a0place, because she looks good. She has a\u00a0strong stage presence, a\u00a0certain physical gravitas as\u00a0a\u00a0performer. Standing out, after all, means you are distinctive. What performer has the\u00a0ambition just to fit in? Being out of\u00a0place is way of\u00a0being exceptional.<\/p>\n
I\u00a0don\u2019t know what Mr Guo thinks about her, but I\u00a0imagine (and\u00a0this is me<\/em> imagining, of\u00a0course, though I’m not sure in\u00a0what other context I\u00a0would feel the\u00a0need to\u00a0labour this point) a\u00a0degree of\u00a0ambivalence. Of\u00a0course, the\u00a0inflections of\u00a0the\u00a0style may be more foreign to\u00a0her than to\u00a0the\u00a0others, so he may need to\u00a0focus on\u00a0her, to\u00a0attend to\u00a0her more just for\u00a0that reason. But just look where he has placed her: at\u00a0the\u00a0front of\u00a0the\u00a0group, centre stage, in\u00a0the\u00a0middle of\u00a0a\u00a0line-up. Naturally, that draws our eyes to\u00a0her. If this dancer looks a\u00a0little out of\u00a0place, she belongs there. It’s part of\u00a0her strength.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A\u00a0visit to\u00a0two groups this evening \u2013 Su Weichia\u2019s and\u00a0Guo Lei\u2019s \u2013\u00a0 and\u00a0it\u2019s the\u00a0first time I\u2019ve come away thinking about dancers being singled out. Both these groups feature one UK dancer within a\u00a0group of\u00a0Chinese dancers. Of\u00a0course, that\u2019s not the\u00a0only way of\u00a0looking… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8mnDM-gF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":173,"url":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/2013\/07\/here-comes-beijing-london-taipei-in-alphabetical-order\/","url_meta":{"origin":1033,"position":0},"title":"Here comes… Beijing! London! Taipei! (in alphabetical order…)","author":"Steffi Sachsenmaier","date":"22 July 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"After two phases of\u00a0Artscross I\u00a0attended in\u00a0Taipei in\u00a02011 and\u00a0in\u00a0Beijing in\u00a02o12 so far, an\u00a0important shift took place for\u00a0me at\u00a0the\u00a0auditions for\u00a0this 2013 phase in\u00a0London. I\u00a0had always been highly sensitive to\u00a0the\u00a0discourses that emerged around the\u00a0dancers and\u00a0choreographers, as\u00a0well as\u00a0academics, representing in\u00a0some ways their 'countries'. Very easily, in\u00a0my\u00a0view, discussions arise in\u00a0which generalisations happen about Chinese-ness, British-ness\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General posts"","block_context":{"text":"General posts","link":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/category\/general_posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_0465","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rescen.net\/blog5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/IMG_0465-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":972,"url":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/2013\/08\/rethink-translation-in-a-process-of-artcrossing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1033,"position":1},"title":"Rethink translation in a process of “artcrossing”","author":"I-Ying Wu","date":"7 August 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"As\u00a0an\u00a0interpreter, I\u00a0feel myself as\u00a0a\u00a0medium or\u00a0a\u00a0bridge between choreographers and\u00a0dancers, and\u00a0between Chinese speakers and\u00a0English speakers in\u00a0this project. This experience has made me question what translation means for\u00a0performing arts and\u00a0how to\u00a0translate in\u00a0an\u00a0artistic process that involves dancers and\u00a0choreographers from diverse cultural backgrounds and\u00a0linguistic or\u00a0cognitive systems. Is there an\u00a0alternative mode besides language emerging in\u00a0this process?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General posts"","block_context":{"text":"General posts","link":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/category\/general_posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1222,"url":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/2013\/08\/artscross-final-performance-a-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":1033,"position":2},"title":"ArtsCross 2013 performance: a review","author":"Sanjoy Roy","date":"15 August 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A\u00a0stand-alone piece that's just been published on\u00a0londondance.com ArtsCross London 2013\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Leaving home: being elsewhere. It\u2019s a\u00a0composite title for\u00a0a\u00a0composite evening that began with a\u00a0much-needed bunch of\u00a0backstory. For\u00a0this was no standard performance programme, but rather the\u00a0visible face of\u00a0a\u00a0more many-headed project: part choreographic lab, part academic research forum, part cross-national venture. As\u00a0project directors Christopher\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General posts"","block_context":{"text":"General posts","link":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/category\/general_posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":587,"url":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/2013\/08\/what-our-group-of-academics-is-called\/","url_meta":{"origin":1033,"position":3},"title":"What our group of academics is called","author":"Ted Warburton","date":"2 August 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Our group of\u00a0ArtsCross academics met yesterday for\u00a0our first extended period of\u00a0greetings and\u00a0discussions in\u00a0London. We raised ideas about crossing cities and\u00a0countries, notions of\u00a0global citizenry and\u00a0\"cosmopolitan\" engagement, the\u00a0possibility of\u00a0translation and\u00a0transference.\u00a0My\u00a0education as\u00a0an\u00a0academic--much like my\u00a0education as\u00a0a\u00a0dancer--has served to\u00a0enculturate me to\u00a0participate and\u00a0enjoy this particular kind of\u00a0dialogue. I\u00a0anticipate the\u00a0beginnings of\u00a0generative debate and\u00a0deliberate research. In\u00a0the\u00a0back of\u00a0my\u00a0mind, I\u00a0heard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General posts"","block_context":{"text":"General posts","link":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/category\/general_posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1352,"url":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/2014\/11\/embodied-translation-artscross-5th-anniversary-performance-beijing-dance-academy-october-2014\/","url_meta":{"origin":1033,"position":4},"title":"Embodied translation: Artscross 5th Anniversary Performance, Beijing Dance Academy October 2014","author":"Rebecca Loukes","date":"10 November 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve been in\u00a0Beijing for\u00a0just under a\u00a0week, observing the\u00a0final rehearsals and\u00a0performance of\u00a0nine pieces selected from the\u00a0past five years of\u00a0ArtsCross. The\u00a0programme for\u00a0the\u00a0show on\u00a023rd October consisted of\u00a0works by\u00a0chorographers from Beijing, Taipei and\u00a0London. 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