Maidment Studio Theatre
Review: Bernadette Rae
The central theme of choreographer Yu-Fen Wang's dance drama New Year's Arrival is the contrast in the lives of two Chinese sisters, one traditional, the other forging a new life in New Zealand.
The differences in their lives and their separate struggles for identity are played out in a series of monologues by the New Zealand sister (Candy Wing-Kei Ho) and her Kiwi-born daughter (Roseanne Wen-Shin Liang).
Fear and guilt, shame and blame, struggle and success are gently teased out in these spoken passages, with the danced sequences adding depth and emotional intensity.
Wang takes an immense risk in the structure of her new work, made to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Not only does she cross both New Zealand and Chinese cultural divides but she mixes art forms, combining elements as diverse as classical Chinese opera, contemporary Western dance, folk tales and experimental theatre techniques.
And she does it with a cast as young and tender as new green bamboo shoots. Her musician, Michael Tang, is still in school, Ho is studying at university and Liang is fresh from student life.
But with professionalism and a determination to provide a voice in New Zealand theatre for Asian-New Zealand artists, Wang manages to weave the many threads of this production into a fairly satisfactory whole.
There are moments of delicate beauty, with Wang herself dancing as the traditional Chinese sister in a shadow-play piece behind a silky veil, and as the benevolent goddess Qua Quin.
A veteran of the Beijing Opera, Xiang-Ji Han, puts in an extraordinary appearance as the red warrior, Qua Gung, singing and dancing in elaborate traditional form.
Yu-Fen Wang's sister, Yu-Chen Wang, plays the part of the folklore monster Nien, in a performance of classical Chinese dance, with its allusion to acrobatics.
New Year's Arrival is as much a cultural experience as a theatrical one for anyone unfamiliar with traditional Chinese society or their concept of New Year. As a strictly artistic endeavour it lacks the polish of a commercial production, but as a song from New Zealand's new, blended society, it comes from the heart.
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