the fusion of traditional and contemporary and the preservation of both tradition and art
TO PREFACE THIS: I know I am posting late, but I was upstate this weekend in a small cabin that barely had electricity, let alone internet, so I was not able to post until after class today.
The Pamina Devi was a strange concoction of traditional Cambodian dance and music, classical Western opera, Buddhist ideology, and modern stage techniques. I found the performance to be somewhat chaotic and difficult to follow, as there was little dialogue to accompany the endless movement and music. However, there is something to be said about this, as the choreographer utilized the dancers to convey the speech that was not displayed. I loved the mix of displayed speech, the chorus and the dancers as means to tell the story. Sophiline Shapiro found the right balance between allowing the dance to speak for itself and giving the audience a narrative that can be followed visually, as modern operas do. Moreover, the use of contemporary lighting effects to accentuate emotions and differentiate the Kingdoms of Light and Dark, was an interesting addition to the opera and to Cambodian dance. The film we saw about the original Palace Dancers, showed them dancing in a royal court with no backdrop or special stage arrangements, so it was interesting to see how the dancers and choreogrpahers made use of such a venue. Furthermore, I think there was greater emphasis placed on the use of two different traditional art forms, rather than the use of both traditional and contemporary.
This is further supported by the Buddhist element of the performance.The Magic Flute and its heavily wrought masonic symbolism, provided an excellent vessel for conveying Buddhist thought and tradition. Buddhism is based on the principle of enlightenment, and light and dark are the prime symbols for enlightenment and ignorance. The assimilation of culture in this performance, was (once again) more prevalent than the mix between contemporary and tradition.
As far as similarities to Zhang Huan, the use of Buddhist symbolism and belief is a big one. Both the Pamina Devi and Zhang Huan, incorporate Buddhism into modern (or for the Magic Flute, relatively modern) art forms; Zhang Huan through his tests of human endurance and his constant motifs of “becoming nothing” and natural elements, Sophiline Shapiro through the symbolism Mozart provided in the opera.
I really am not quite sure how traditional art ad new artistic models were prevalent in the Pamina Devi. I really saw more of a cross-cultural connection and that was really interesting.
Nadine Orenstein’s presentation emphasized the importance of art preservation on two levels. The first being the physical preservation of the art and the technique and the second (and probably most important) being the preservation of culture and experience. Em Thea’s revival of Cambodian Dance is the same basic principle of preserving a part of culture to make it available for future generations, which in turn is the basis of culture, as what we know, has stood the test of time. Both curators not only save the art from obscurity and extinction, they present it in a way that is more relevant to contemporary audiences. For Cambodian Dance, contemporary audiences may look on it as a sign of Cambodian culture triumphing over the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot’s regime. Most importantly, contemporary audiences may view it as some of the last remaining culture that survived the killing fields. For Northern prints, contemporary audiences may view it as a lost art form. One does not encounter too many prints done in the traditional style these days; most modern prints are screen printed. Also, contemporary audiences may view the preservation of prints as preservation of history and sides of artists’ careers that are not as well known.