BWW Reviews: SILK ROAD Imports Authentic Entertainment to New York City

It's often thought that the quality of an unfamiliar Chinese restaurant can be approximated with relative accuracy by looking at its patrons: the higher the ratio of Chinese to non-Chinese customers, the better. If this concept can be extended from the culinary to the performing arts, the audience at the New York premiere of China Gansu Dance Theater's rendition of Silk Road boded well for the evening's performance. Indeed, as the mostly Chinese audience took their seats on Wednesday night in Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater, more Chinese than English could be heard throughout the hall, and the typical pre-show warnings to silence cell phones and prevent photography were given in Chinese as well as English. The show's title, scrawled in gigantic characters of Chinese calligraphy, glimmered in the low light of the auditorium.

As the show began, these characters whisked away, replaced onstage by the characters of Silk Road, an iconic Chinese dance drama that has entertained audiences around the world for over three decades. Silk Road tells the embattled story of Shengbi Zhang and his daughter Yingniang as they struggle against the forces that have separated them. Shengbi is a master fresco painter from Dunhuang, a city in China's Gansu province most famous for the Dunhuang frescoes, a massive collection of murals, paintings, and sculptures created over the span of more than one thousand years in a cavernous temple system outside the city.

As a historically crucial juncture along the Silk Road, Dunhuang serves as an appropriate setting for the dramatization of Shengbi's plight: trouble arrives at Shengbi's door only when he and Yingniang rescue Yunus, a wealthy Persian merchant blown off the Silk Road by a passing storm. Shengbi and Yingniang's good deed unfortunately leads them into conflict with Dou Hu, a vicious bandit who has the local mayor in his pocket. Dou Hu captures Yingniang and whisks her away to Persia, and Shengbi spends the rest of his (ultimately tragic) life trying to reclaim his daughter. He succeeds briefly in the final scenes of the drama, only to be foiled again when Douhu accidentally kills him-instead of Yunus-in an epic battle. In his dying act, Shengbi unites Yunus and Yingniang, and together the two avenge Shengbi's death by exposing the mayor's insidious ties to Dou Hu. As Silk Road' concludes, Dou Hu and the mayor are exiled, and everyone celebrates the good that has come, unexpectedly, from an otherwise tragic story: the newfound bond between Yunus and Yingniang, and-more importantly-the bonds formed between China and the dozens of other countries tied together by the silk road.

The China Gansu Dance Theater portrayed Shengbi's tale in a two-hour-long performance of 8 acts that featured several standout performances by the troupe's lead dancers. From her dramatic entrance-appearing suddenly from behind the cover of several drums that she then skillfully danced across-Chen Chen shined in the role of Yingniang. Her fluid movements and graceful contortions drew the long lines of her limber body into striking shapes, creating physical echoes of the graceful brush strokes of Chinese calligraphy. In the show's most memorable number-a spellbinding ribbon dance by Yingniang as she flits through her father's premonitory dream-Chen Chen extended the fluid lines of her body outward with a long, richly-colored ribbon that she conjured into undulating lineations. Chen Chen performed throughout the evening with noticeable skill.

Yulong Song's performance as Dou Hu was another highlight of the evening. Song was remarkable in each of his scenes, whether lurking animal-like in The Shadows, or completing the seemingly-impossible, lightning-quick acrobatic jumps that featured heavily in his choreography with weightless dexterity. Song's fierce emotional and physical dedication to his character brought a fiery intensity otherwise absent from the show. Similar emotional dedication animated An Ning's portrayal of Shengbi. Although Shenbgi's choreography was less technically challenging than Dou Hu's, the fear, anger, and bravery present in Ning's subtle movements made the pathos of his character's plight palpable to the audience.

Several large group numbers complemented the distinguished performances by China Gansu Dance Theater's leads. The opening scene of Silk Road, which brings to life the "Thousand Buddhas" depicted in the Dunhuang frescoes, featured a large portion of the company's female cast draped in flowing white fabric with shimmering gold accents. Standing single-file, they maneuvered the golden jewelry that capped their fingers as a single entity, with impressive effect. Their collective movements coalesced into visually stunning shapes and dynamic forms that flashed-as brightly as their costumes-across the stage.

Unfortunately, the finely-tuned manipulations of the opening number were not representative of most of the group numbers in Silk Road. In several of the other ensemble pieces, minor yet noticeable moments of asynchrony distracted from an otherwise colorful and energetic performance. The flash and gleam of the group's exciting costumes and props could not hide their sometimes less-than-polished execution of the choreography.

The show also suffered from technical difficulties. Lighting cues occasionally missed their mark. At one point a set piece floated slowly from the ground, only to descend awkwardly during an ongoing scene. Chen Chen's expert ribbon-work faltered when the ends of her ribbon accidentally coiled around an oncoming dancer. These hiccups-probably attributable to a combination of jetlag and opening-night jitters-were hardly egregious. They did, however, obfuscate some of the troupe's skilled dancing.

And yet, as a certifiable treasure in China's dance culture, Silk Road is not to be missed. Regardless of its hiccups (or its highlights), China Gansu Dance Theater created an intriguingly stimulating show for its New York premiere, as it has for audiences around the world for over 30 years, and it visibly entertained the mostly Chinese crowd on Wednesday evening. In fact, seeing Silk Road was much like braving the menu of an unfamiliar Chinese restaurant chosen only for the high volume of Chinese patrons: the offerings are satisfyingly familiar to some, compellingly adventurous to others, but nonetheless brimming with enough potent Chinese authenticity to please everyone in the house.

Photo Credit: China Gansu Dance Theater

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