Taiwanese dance company’s unique fusion-style choreography in ‘Before We Say Goodbye’ provides a distinctive take on the circle of life
It’s the first time Po-Cheng Tsai’s Taiwanese contemporary dance company, B.Dance has graced the stage in Luxembourg and in their fourth production, Before We Say Goodbye, the ten dancers bring something emotional, evocative and continuously flowing.
The stage is set with fronds of blossoms hanging from the ceiling and behind, a screen backdrop shows the gentle ripples of lapping water.
A single dancer in flesh coloured underwear is on stage, and her expansive movements portray someone coming to life. A male dancer in a white suit comes on stage, and soon she is surrounded by nine dancers in suits of pastel colours.
She moves between them, involuntary, tossed about like a plaything, until they all line up in front of her, the first dancer holding her hands to his heart.
The “dark and bright corners” of our souls
Before We Say Goodbye is a series of vignettes of the memories of the dancers, and those of several elders in the community, and it represents their innermost passions and fears, or as stated in the theatre programme, “the dark and bright corners of their souls and minds.”
What we see on stage are these memories and emotions channelled into physical movements, performed to a backdrop of relatively gentle music, sometimes on the piano, sometimes the violin, and even the chords of an electric guitar.
There is the ever present sound of water from raindrops to the gurgling of a river, and sometimes, the sound of the wind whistling through its surroundings.
This is contemporary dance that fuses so many styles both Western and East Asian. There are traditional ballet moves and jetés, mixed with Tai Chi-style slow movements, and even elements of martial arts and acrobatics.
The fundamental thing, however, is that the movements are unending, and flowing, just like the lives they recount. Even when the dancers exit the stage, one always remains to begin the next chapter.
At times the dancers are spread across the stage, moving in rapid synchronicity, at others they bend and wave like seagrass in the water, but there is nothing jerky or incongruous in their movements.
This seamlessness is punctuated by sections where the dancers stand in line, resting their heads on each other, then slowly moving, like a snake or a dragon, in unison together, their arms locked and rolling like waves or the flow of a river. Is it a symbol that life will go always go on, no matter what happens?
In this sense, B.Dance ask us if life is predetermined before birth, or if our memories of love are what we are left with when we reach our final chapter and “say goodbye”. We know that life is impermanent, and yet we interact with others in a way to create some meaning to everything around us.
Calming and mesmerising
The dancers, sometimes suited, sometimes appearing as naked, cover their eyes, as if taking us into individual and collective memories. The covering of eyes with one hand is interjected throughout the performance, even into the dance movements, where one dancer forces another to remember a moment in time.
There are few props, but when they are used, the result is beautifully orchestrated. Paper parasols keep the rain off, frame the dancers, form a line which might represent the different aspects or stages of our lives.
In one scene, two male dancers perform with a single scarf that ties them together around their necks. Their moves must be completely synchronized to avoid choking, and they deliver this never-ending intertwining of limbs with precision but also a depth of emotion.
There is something very calming about the lighting, the music and the movements, so much so, it is extremely mesmerising.
When the final scene of the final chapter comes, filled with pink blossom falling from above, with handfuls of blossom also carried on stage by the dancers to create a magical carpet, there is no sadness at death, but instead a sense that lives intertwined with others, and remembered by those around us, is all we can expect to leave behind.
