The Buddha, my body
Tony Yap Company
(in collaboration with Theatre Nottle (Korea) and Surya Kencana (Indonesia))
45 Downstairs, Flinders Lane, Melbourne
21st August, 8pm
I don’t have much to say about this work. Mainly because I think it was lost in translation (and possibly the woeful seat I had behind a pole). Being in Taiwan and seeing dance and theatre I think there is a certain ‘contemporary’ east Asian dance theatre that has quite a melodramatic edge that just wouldn’t be seen on Australian stages. I found myself quite challenged by the work as it didn’t seem to fit any of the criteria by which i usually critique work.
I guess the example of this were the continuing birth scenes throughout the piece – I didn’t enjoy them – i also wasn’t affected by them, in fact i found them quite jarring.
One dancer a Javanese man called Surya Kencana was incredible – his flexibility and grace made for some compelling moments and Tony Yap was very strong, but i couldn’t help but feel like i was not informed enough to make comment about the work as a whole.
Also at times I found the music to be quite overbearing, and occasionally inappropriate, why was there accordian in a piece like this?
Bringing together such a diverse cast from across Asia is a credit to Tony and this should be applauded alone, we need to see more companies and performers in Australia like this.
