舞评 02: 'Ancient Inscriptions' A Review by Chin San Sooi

Scintillating. Dua Space continues to thrill with its latest presentation Ancient Inscriptions choreographed by Anthony Meh  and Aman Yap. Its was an evening of precision and power , of rhythm and flow of movement, of contemplation and meditation and breathless exhilaration.

The internal dynamics of the scholar meet the external energy of the dancer. In bringing

the calligraphic virtuosity of the master calligraphers and the trained body of the modern dancers, an entertaining cultural fusion of an ancient art form and a contemporary movement is realized.

The delights are manifold especially in the section on Han Calligraphy.  Was it the venerable ancient inscriptions bathing on the playfully responsive dancers or was it the dancers thoughtfully weaving their way through the presence of erudite scripts? Most absorbingly delicate was the moment when script and dancer were at one responding to each other.  We stopped seeing. We were at one in the moment. A suspended epiphany.

The pulsating rhythms of sounds was sometimes full of high octane energy, coupled with over exuberant visuals especially in the opening number Jia-Gu Wen which  did not sit well with yours truly. The tribal character of the warring states did not always manifest itself in the body movements of the dancers.  When sound and rhythm worked, the evening was suffused with magic.

Outstanding was Aman Yap, lead dancer.  His body extensions and magnetic presence

commanded attention.  The other dancers complemented with their exuberance and

spiritedness.

In the last chapter, in honouring renowned local calligrapher, Sim Mow Yu, the employment of the cane and extended silence, held yours truly spellbound especially in the section of the five elements.  The rhythm of movement with continual flowing lines

expressed constant change as the only constant.

Dua Space’s Ancient Inscription is an inspiring piece in which the fecundity of

the mind of the ancients inspires the restless creative spirit of  to-day’s mind

to reveal the Power of the Imagination.

Chin San Sooi

2014.10.11 中国报China Press《水泥地上种艺花 Planting Flower of Art on Cement Floor》

非常感谢中国报特约记者子若为舞团两位创办人，马金泉老师及叶忠文老师做专访，并撰写了《水泥地上中艺花》。

Many thanks to China Press for interviewing our founders, Mr Anthony Meh and Aman Yap and wrote this article: "Planting Flower of Art on Cement Floor".

错过了的朋友可点击一下图，阅读全文！

For those wish to read the full article, please click on the picture to enlarge them.

16年前，马金泉与叶忠文从美国归来，毅然在大马这块寸草不生、硬如水泥的艺术贫瘠土地，开拓他们的舞蹈天地！当时，没有太多理直气壮的想法，只有义无反顾去做：“窜入这个水泥地，梦想在上面种花吧！”

16 years ago, Anthony Meh and Amap Yap returned from the United States and decided to build their dance career in Malaysia, a barren land of art.Without any righteous thoughts nor hesitation, there as only one thing in their mind - "Dreaming to nurture the garden of art on this cement floor!"

那一次，在丝绸基金会（Sutra Foundation）位于吉隆坡蒂蒂旺沙花园（Taman Titiwangsa）的办公室兼练舞室里，与著名印度传统舞蹈家拿督南利依布拉欣（Datuk Ramli Ibrahim）进行专访后，对方特别提起了共享空间的两位创办人马金泉与叶忠文。

记得当时他给了他们俩最高的舞蹈艺术评价，于是一直等待一个与两位极负盛名的舞者会面的机会。多个月以后，《架势堂》终于等到16年前在大马这片舞蹈艺术荒路中开疆辟土的二人做客此栏目。

在这一聊天中，他们与广大读者分享他们过去、现在与未来的转变和出路。

During an interview with Datuk Ramli Ibrahim in the office and also the dance studio of Sutra Foundation at Taman Titiwangsa, Datuk Ramli specially mentioned about the founders of Dua Space Dance Theatre, Mr Anthony Meh and Mr Aman Yap.

Datuk Ramli gave them a very high appraisal for their dance art. China Press has been anticipating for an opportunity to meet these two prestigious dancers. After several months, we finally have an opportunity to interview these distinguished artists.

During the interview,they shared their experience in the past, challenges they are facing now, and also changes and future prospects for developing dance art in Malaysia.

《万象甲骨ANCIENT INSCRIPTIONS》预告片段Promo Video

请欣赏我们即将重演《万象甲骨》的预告片段！
感谢Visualline - the moving picture people的支持及影片剪接。

Here's our video promo for upcoming ANCIENT INSCRIPTIONS!
Thanks to Visualline - the moving picture people for their support and editing this video.

舞评 01： Review of Ancient Inscriptions By Lemuel Ong (Asia Dance News)

Put on your creative glasses as Dua Space takes you through an artistic perspective of Chinese calligraphy! As common as Chinese texts are today, not many know of the rich cultural heritage of their origins. With that in mind, Dua Space introduced a dance performance, aptly named Ancient Inscriptions to trace the evolution of Chinese calligraphy throughout the years in the form of dance.

Moments before the start of the show, a crowd began to form outside the entrance as the awaiting audience members were buzzing with hype and excitement. Photo previews of the performance with dancers in their elegant, graceful poses were placed right outside the hall, inviting awe and amazement from the audience members even before the show unveiled its curtains. With such eye-catching previews, one would surely have great expectations from Dua Space’s latest addition to their list of breathtaking acts.

The challenge set before them was to interpret and translate what would typically be expressed by the hand and arm through brushstrokes, into expressions of the entire body through their choreography. Dua Space founders Anthony Meh and Aman Yap had the vision to trace the evolution of Chinese calligraphy by emulating the strokes and movements of the writings in this 75-minute long performance. Both Meh and Yap not only hoped to educate all on the history of Chinese calligraphy, but also to bridge the cultural gap by promoting intercultural understanding. All of these were bound to be achieved as people of various age groups, races and backgrounds came together to witness this artistic interpretation of Chinese calligraphy.

  

The show began with a bang as heavy percussions ringed through the hall, inducing a tribal vibe as audience members were taken thousands of years back in time to trace the genealogy of Chinese writing, beginning with the earliest form – Jia-Gu Wen. The dancers executed each twist and turn with great intensity and immaculate precision, capturing the essence of the hard, raw text – which was typically written on shells and bones.

The dramatic and echoing music continued on as it brought us all in a journey of discovering the various scripts during the period of Han dynasty. From the orderly and structured regular script, to the smooth and graceful cursive script, to the quick flowing running script, and the free-spirited wild script, dancers embodied the spirits of the various scripts by tracing the movements and strokes of the writings, clearly contrasting the differences between the aforementioned scripts through a time of edutainment.

The performers – Chen Jiunn Yee, Howard Hew, Kenny Leow, Lim Shi Jun, Tan Eng Seng, Sow Yee Ming and Soo Siew Yin, led by Aman Yap – played on different intensity levels to capture the uniqueness of different strokes and movements, yet complemented each other exceptionally well, injecting a little playfulness and drama into the performance as well. They definitely deserve much credit for their impressive way of encapsulating the fluidity of the brush and ink into their dance moves, using their bodies as mediums of expression.

Ancient Inscriptions came to an end as Dua Space paid tribute to Malaysian calligraphy extraordinaire, Sim Mow Yu, through which the dancers explored the idea that calligraphy is not merely the extension of the arm and brush of the calligrapher, but also the extension of his or her mind. Each stroke of the calligraphy personifies the individuality and character of the calligrapher, and the dancers portrayed just that as they painted it out using the stage as their canvas.

To the layman, this performance would not be too foreign, complex or extravagant to digest as prior introduction slides guide you through the performance which helps the audience members gain a better understanding on the subject matter. Yet at the same time, the performance was conceptually delicious as it opened up various ideas and possibilities for the audience’s intellectual creativity consumption.

Living up to its name, Dua Space truly embraced their identity as they considered the stage a space to be shared by promoting interaction between performers and audience members alike. With a list of awards up their sleeves, much would be expected from local dance theatre company, Dua Space. And boy, they did not disappoint!

The choreography was clearly well thought-out and planned with each flex and move of the limbs timed and designed so precisely to create maximum effect and amplified drama. The utilisation of interesting props such as bamboo sticks and canes also attracted not only the sense of sight, but hearing as well. Beautifully designed costumes such as the tribal-wear in the beginning to the black and white silhouette at the end also complemented each theme perfectly while lighting and projections gave the performance an extra ‘punch’ as they created an additional dimension to the dance.

Long, resounding and roaring applauses filled the hall on the second day of their performance while audience members gave standing ovations to the team – a true testament for their great work. It was of no surprise that their performance was a great success for which it can be attributed to brilliantly thought-out choreography, original and unique background music, intricately designed costumes, mesmerising lighting and projection effects, as well as the long hours of dedication and perseverance in executing the vision. All these factors blended well together, creating an experience one would never forget as audience members were treated to an immersive artistic cultural display.

Melody FM 专访舞团总监马金泉老师与叶忠文老师 An Interview on Melody FM

如果您错过了10月9日在Melody FM播放的专访，我们在这为您送上专访马金泉老师与叶忠文老师关于《万象甲骨》的浓缩版。

If youhave missed the broadcasting of the interview of Mr Antony Meh and Mr Aman Yap on Melody FM on 9 October, please follow the following link for the reloaded interview.

感谢我们的媒体伙伴Melody FM！

Thanks to Melody FM for being our media partner!

点击聆听重播片段Click Me to listen to the interview!

A Letter for Local Arts by Anthony Meh 01

A letter of sensibility after developing local dance art for 16 years

Written by choreographer, Anthony Meh

Prior to the fund-raising performance of <Ancient Inscriptions>

A 16-year waiting, for a possibility and a break-through…

When I gave up the better opportunity in New York and returned to Malaysia 16 years ago, I chose to bring home the dance profession. That was the time when art was not so popular but I naively dreamed of nourishing this scarce land (which almost like a cement floor) with dance art. I never thought of breaking the floor and making holes on this cement floor, but to layer a thin soil so we can plant flowers and trees on it, starting from the tiniest area but spreading to greater ones. However, all things are difficult before they are easy. I was cracking my head over where to find my ‘bulldozer’ and ‘slusher’ to help me carrying the soil? My dance company partner, Aman Yap, and I started training dancers by hoping that ‘they’ can fertile the land one day.

We formed the first full-time contemporary dance company in year 2003 after a 5-year intensive dance training since 1998. That was when the ‘bulldozers’ and ‘slushers’ were in place.

Add caption

Along these 16 years, I brought these ‘bulldozers’ and ‘slushers’ (namely ‘the dancers’) to organise dance workshops, dance camps, art seminars and performances throughout Malaysia, promoting dance art nationwide. To achieve such purpose, I tried to produce dance performances which appeal the favour of all audiences and elevate the artistic values of these understandable-by-common-people stage performances. On the other hand, I also worked towards producing artistically refined pieces for international festivals. A local dance company for all! That’s how I established Dua Space with my 16-year effort, expanding local art scene and to promote our art to the world.

16 years brought Dua Space and I to where we are now, and we are planning go further.

I believe I can create more possibilities, and Dua Space can open up more opportunities for local art scene.

While leading the company along all these years, financial matter is always our biggest challenge. I have been working hard and constantly overtime to keep the company survive while developing arts locally. To sustain a dance company includes costing of paying the staffs and dancers’ salaries, purchasing costumes, props and others, paying rental for studios, offices and storerooms, and even creating dance and making performance productions need money. I never dare to look back how we managed these 16 years but strive harder. And now, I think it should be the time to make a change, where the company and I should be able to take a breath with our accumulated experiences and approaches into next leap of faith for future.

This is the first-ever development fund-raising performance of our company. I am still hoping for a better environment for dance art as every soul living here, the coming generations and the world will definitely have more depth with excellent arts. We will dance for the world, and we sincerely hope you are here with us!

马金泉写给本土艺术的家书（一）

舞蹈家马金泉用16年的岁月，以最感性的语言，

写下本土舞蹈艺术开拓的家信

写在《万象甲骨》筹募发展基金  演出前夕

用16年的岁月，

养一个可能，等待一个破茧

16年前，自己从美国纽约回国，放下在外国较好的发展空间，选择将外国的舞蹈专业带回马来西亚，面对这里艺术贫瘠的现象，扪个头，就窜入了这个泥灰土，梦想在上面种花。想到的是，并非誓要将泥灰土穿洞挖凿，而是在上面重新铺上可以滋养艺术树木的泥土，就从最小块的一个范围开始，渐渐扩大。凡事最难的是开始，我想到帮运泥土的“铲泥车”及“ “神手”在那里？我和舞团另外一位创办人叶忠文就开始积极训练舞者，期待这个“铲泥车”及“神手”在未来可以发挥搬运肥沃土壤的团队功能。

1998年的舞者集训计划，经过5年的练就，2003年成立了本土第一个全职性现代舞团，“铲泥车”及“神手”到位了。

16年里，我带着“铲泥车”及“神手”的舞者在全马各地举办舞蹈工作坊，舞蹈营、艺术讲座及演出，大大地将舞蹈艺术从舞台扩大至马来西亚的全民艺术。我思考及制作“雅俗共赏”的创作节目给一般普罗大众，将看了明白的舞台表演提升它的审美及价值。我也构思及制作纯高度的艺术创作作品，把这些作品带到海外各大艺术节演出。一个可以走的进厨房，也可以走的出厅堂的本土舞团，是我这16年来的思考路线，目的是和祖国人们一起成长本土艺术，也让本土艺术的高度在国际展现。

16年的步行岁月，我们做到了基础目标，此刻，也让我思考自己及共享空间专业舞团未来更深远的规划。

我觉得自己可以为本土做出更多可能，舞团也可以为本土开拓更多的生机。

  

经过这16年带领舞团开拓本土艺术，给我最大的挑战是财务，也是生存最基本的条件。16年来，我总是超时地在工作，一心一意全情投入在本土艺术发展上，养就一个艺术的团队及场地不容易，舞者、行政人员全职受薪、办公室、排练场、服装道具室每个月也是需要费用，创作时需要资金，16年来怎么过，我不敢回想，拉紧拳头拼了就是。16年后，我想应该要有个转弯吧，把过去累积的经验、方法用另外一个力度投掷新的抛物线，让自己及舞团调整呼吸的方式，为未来存活。

这是舞团第一次通过演出向大众募款，希望可以为舞团募得发展基金。我许愿，愿意为本土舞蹈艺术有更好的滋长，让这里的人们、下一代、世界，因为有优质的艺术而活出不一样的质感，我愿携手共舞世界文明的创造，但愿这个携手之中有你的参与，高兴。

Show Time & Ticket Booking

万象甲骨

ANCIENT INSCRIPTIONS

Presented by

筹募共享空间专业舞团发展基金演出

Dua Space Development Fund-Raising Performance

23 OCT - 2 NOV 2014

吉隆坡表演艺术中心    The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, Pentas 1