Tao Body Theater Restarts International Tour in Shanghai: Good Art is Countertrend, Dissolving Crisis | Body | Salary | International

The Tao Body Theater has returned.

On April 28, 2022, the day before World Dance Day, the Tao Body Theater and Yang Liping's performance team for "Yunnan Impression" announced their dissolution, causing much regret. At that time, all 11 digital series works of Tao Body Theater at the National Grand Theatre Taihu Dance Art Center were cancelled for six consecutive days.

However, the Tao Body Theater did not truly collapse, but hit bottom and rebounded after being suspended for several months. In February of this year, Tao Body Theater won the Silver Lion Award at the Venice Biennale, and its newly restarted works "13" and "14" also set off from the National Grand Theatre, touring seven cities along the way. On July 4th and 5th, the Tao Body Theater resumed its international tour at the Shanghai Cultural Square. After Shanghai, they will go to Karamata in Greece, Genoa in Italy, Florence, Venice, and return to the world stage.

Before the performance in Shanghai, the Tao Body Theater held a creative sharing session and dance workshop at the Shanghai Cultural Square. Founder Tao Ye said that this is the first time the dance troupe has had face-to-face communication with the audience in this way since its restart. He said, "From disbandment to restart, I hope Tao's body can return to our initial starting point, in the state of the rehearsal field, and convey the most simple and sincere things to the audience."

The most important reason for restarting is "people"

The Tao Body Theater, founded in 2008, has appeared on the stage of over 100 art festivals in more than 40 countries around the world in the past decade. Although they have gained fame both domestically and internationally, survival has always been a challenge for them. When interviewed by a journalist in 2016, Tao Ye once said, "A sense of crisis is always present, and I am always thinking about what to do next. Paying dancers salaries is a very practical problem, and dance troupes can only balance their income based on performances. In fact, the performance income of art festivals is not very high. In the world, modern dancers are all 'beggars' professions, and the people who do this are true love, so creativity is so sincere."

Tao Ye believes that the most important factor for the restart of the Tao Body Theater is the "people". "Our works have no images, props, complex lighting, or music. Our stage is only composed of people. These dancers may eventually leave the stage and stop dancing due to the disbandment of the dance troupe."

After the announcement of the dissolution of the Tao Body Theater, many dancers approached Tao Ye and Duan Ni and told them that even if they were to disband without a salary, they would not leave. At that time, the lease for a rehearsal hall in the dance troupe had not yet arrived, and the dancers who continued to practice daily became an important source of confidence for the restart.

After the news of dissolution was announced, many people extended a helping hand. Some companies negotiated a three-year contract with them and quickly transferred the cooperation funds. Anonymous artists and entrepreneurs also donated a considerable amount of funds. Theaters across the country also sent performance invitations to show their support, which helped Tao Body Theater embark on the road to restart.

《13》 "14" is a brand new work after Tao's body was restarted, and it is a continuation of the "digital series". Many Shanghai audiences have watched the "Digital Series" of Tao's body, with performances such as "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", and "11" all performed at the Cultural Square. The numbers gradually increase, just like the age of a person gradually increases, and the tree's growth rings circle by circle. Dancers pursue simplicity, simplicity, and purity on stage, continuously exploring the possibilities of their bodies.

Compared to previous works, the performances of "13" and "14" in Shanghai this time are in the same lineage but somewhat different. In "13", daily behaviors such as walking, sitting, and sleeping are cultivated and integrated into actions, echoing the first work "Heavy 3", which started with walking. In the past, there were many repetitions in digital series works, and "14" was the first time facing the theme of "non repetition". Accompanied by the ticking sound of the clock throughout, the dancers' limbs constantly flow and grow into endless changes.

"In the past, all dance movements in Tao's works were predetermined, but these two works are constantly changing and growing, and each performance may be different." Tao Ye said, "Stage art is cruel, it exists at this moment, every minute and every second is disappearing, just like our lives. Our dancers spend every day, every minute and every second in this way. I want to put these most sincere physical actions on stage and spend time with them."

Good art can surpass the times

When the curtain of Shanghai Cultural Square opened, the audience exclaimed in amazement: the always black, white, and gray pottery body theater had turned into a colorful one. The 14 dancers have 14 different colors on their bodies, including deep blue, orange, and pink, bright, arrogant, and explosive.

Since the establishment of Tao's body, it has always been portrayed as de embellished, de gendered, and de emotional. Regardless of gender, dancers always have short hair, bare feet, dressed in black, white, and gray costumes, with no joy, anger, sorrow, or joy on their faces. They took subtraction to the extreme, returning to the most essential movement of the body, and created a unique artistic style. Why did Tao's body break its previous image and wear colorful clothes this time?

Tao Ye said that this is an era that is easily labeled. Color is a particularly good label, red represents passion, blue represents melancholy, pink represents cuteness, and green represents health. "The 14 different colors represent the various labels of this noisy era. After being labeled, it can be more easily recognized by the public and favored by the flow. However, I believe that good art is against the trend. It can transcend the times, be full of openness and imagination. The transcendence of this art should be the pursuit and mission of contemporary artists. Even though" 14 "has attached so many colors, in the end, dancers are using the pure colors of their bodies to resist it."

Looking at the works of Tao's body, some say they don't understand, while others say it's like a conversation with oneself, letting go of anxiety and distractions, immersing oneself in the present and within. Tao Ye hopes that when the audience enters the theater, they can let go of their preconceptions and open up their hearts.

"Dance is the movement of the whole body, connected by hearing, sight, and touch. We can feel our existence through every moment of dance and enjoy everything we have at this moment. Dance has a strong, warm, vast, and heavy energy that can give people an experience and a meaning."

After the Five Cities International Tour, Tao Ye and Duan Ni will also be invited by the Dutch Dance Theatre to The Hague to create the digital series "15" for the dance troupe. This new work will premiere worldwide in September this year and embark on a first round tour of 20 shows in 7 European cities over a period of 3 months.

The road ahead seems to have opened up again.