33ʳᵈ Macao Arts Festival

Xiao Ke

Jérôme Bel x Xiao Ke

20, 21/5
20:00
Black Box Theatre, Old Court Building


Duration: Approximately 1 hour, no interval
Performed in Mandarin, with surtitles in Chinese and English

 

Please switch off all sound-making and light-emitting devices. Unauthorised photography or recording of any kind is strictly prohibited. Thank you for your co-operation.

 

Concept: Jérôme Bel
By and With: Xiao Ke
Technical Direction: Zi Han
Artistic Advice and Executive Direction: Rebecca Lasselin
Production Manager: Sandro Grando
Production: R.B. Jérôme Bel *
Co-production: Centre Pompidou x West Bund Museum Project (Shanghai) and Les Spectacles vivants – Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris)

* R.B. Jérôme Bel is supported by the Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles d’Île-de-France, the Ministry of Culture of France, the Institut Français and the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France.

Programme Notes

Xiao Ke is a joint-project between the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Centre Pompidou x West Bund Museum Project in Shanghai, in which Jérôme Bel encouraged the Chinese performer and choreographer Xiao Ke to activate the score of the autobiographical monologue. For ecological reasons, R.B. Jérôme Bel company does not travel by plane anymore. Therefore, Bel organised the rehearsals and various exchanges with Xiao Ke from a distance. By embedding the Chinese choreographer’s personal history in that of her native country, the piece condenses four decades of political, economic and cultural revolutions.

It is the latest opus of Bel’s series of danced portraits, which started in 2004 with Véronique Doisneau, a portrait of the eponymous dancer of the Paris Opera Ballet, followed by the portraits of Thai traditional dance performer Pichet Klunchun and Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s dancer Cédric Andrieux.

A Groundbreaking Collaboration between French and Chinese Choreographers
A Story of Dance and Life: Xiao Ke

Xiao Ke is a solo piece co-created by Jérôme Bel, a renowned French choreographer and representative figure of “non-dance”, and Xiao Ke, a pioneer of performance art in China. As they live in different countries, they had to bring their creative ideas into shape through online conferences and rehearsals. In this piece, Xiao Ke shares her story of dance and life with the audience through monologue and dance. In a calm voice, the Chinese choreographer tells the audience about the moments she has experienced and the people she has encountered throughout her career, demonstrating the various genres that have taken root in her heart and soul, such as folk dance, ballet with Chinese characteristics, modern dance, contemporary dance, break dance, disco dance, jazz dance, dance theatre, besides her own original style. Xiao Ke initially seems to be the story of her personal life and career but, as Bel said, it is “a solo that will reflect the evolution of dance and culture in China over the past 40 years”. Xiao Ke is not only a portrait of the artist, but also a sketch that depicts the development of dance in China.

By Daisy Chu
A veteran art and culture editor and critic, Chu has worked for several newspapers and magazines, having collaborated with a number of art institutions. In recent years, she has published insights and reviews on dance and theatre productions on printed media.

 

This article is excerpted and translated from Chinese

Biographical Notes

Jérôme Bel, Concept

In his early pieces, Bel applied structuralist operations to dance in order to single out the primary elements from theatrical spectacle. His interest subsequently shifted from dance as a stage practice to the issue of the performer as a particular individual. The series of danced portraits broaches dance through the narrative of those who practice it, emphasising words in a dance spectacle, and stressing the issue of the singularity of the stage.

His works have been invited to perform or exhibit at contemporary art biennials and museums around the world. Two of his films, Véronique Doisneau and Shirtology, are in the collections of the Musée National d’Art Moderne – Centre Pompidou. In 2005, Bel received the Bessie Award for the performances of The Show Must Go On. He also won the ECF Princess Margriet Award for Culture for the performance Pichet Klunchun and myself in 2008. In 2021, he received the Taishin Performing Arts Award with Wu-Kang Chen for the performance Dances for Wu-Kang Chen.

Xiao Ke, Performance

Xiao Ke began her Chinese ethnic dance training at the age of six, which lasted for 12 years until she was admitted to Fudan University in Shanghai, where she learnt modern dance by herself. She established her own dance studio in 1998 and started cross-media collaboration with contemporary artists in 2002. In 2005, together with Zhang Xian and other artists, she co-founded ZuHe Niao Physical Theater Company and their work won the ZKB Patronage Prize at the Zürcher Theater Spektakel in 2006. Since 2010, she has been working as an independent artist, developing physical art and contemporary theatre productions that are close to the reality of Chinese life.

Xiao Ke worked with audio-visual artist Zi Han between 2011 and 2020. The collaborative works involved theatre, photography, video, live art and installation. She has been invited to perform and exchange at major arts and dance festivals in Europe and Asia, and built up a communication network with various contemporary theatres and arts organisations. In 2021, Xiao Ke started a new artwork plan to collaborate with amateurs in theatre creation.

 

Disclaimer
The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government provides liaison and technical support to the project only. Any views/opinions expressed by the project team are those of the project only and do not reflect the views of the Cultural Affairs Bureau.