The Theatrex Blog

Life begins with nothingness — A concept that seems to be difficult to understand/accept by many, especially those who has a faith. Reading Lawrence Krauss’ A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing will shed more light in this; watching and reading into Malaysian choreographer Mak Foong Ming’s work Safe Distance will see bits of Lawrence’s ideas coming into being in a theatrical environment. Dancers begin from the most fundamental of movements, in Mak’s case — the movement of the hands.

被归类为一项艺术实验的展演《共鸣》是马来西亚籍音乐、听觉艺术家黄楚原与舞蹈家林保旭两人在各自艺术实践上，以听觉元素 （不单只是音乐）以及身体律动作为起点的艺术创作。林保旭的舞作由个人的体验出发，而黄楚源的听觉艺术则从一个类似学术性质的剖析，将音的不同元素拆开，针对林保旭的身体进行适当的切入及改造。在艺术的领域上，古时称为前卫、实验性创作，但在今时今日，已不在是一种高不可攀的剧场体验；所以，这种创作常被喻为”小众创作 ” 中的 ” 小 ” 之定义需要再作检讨；此作品应当小，就因重点不在于景观性 (Spectacle) 的呈献，而是在动作／律动、质感、观点以及观众的视角，各个不同的层面上进行解析、并加以实验。当然，每个艺术创作者都知道，一个所谓前卫／试验性的演出有可能是接下来主流演出的新趋势，但是在这个新趋势还没未来临之前，小众演出所关注的是艺术创作上的创新、进步。

To some members in the audience of Malaysian dancer Lu Wit Chin’s solo performance Memento Mori at the opening night, the energy brought forth by the work seemed bleak and dark. Implicitly, they preferred more happier elements to be added to the piece. The inclination to privilege the Happy is understandable, however answering the question: How does happiness look like, or what form does it take, or is it relevant at all? – is more compelling, something I am keenly interested in conversing, with the work. If choreographer and dancer Lu were to keep staying positive — in a mundane sort of way — then the happiness he brought forth in the work might be more oppressive to him and the audience, or maybe more comforting to the audiences rather than to himself — nobody knows, myself included.