Kudos to Lincoln Center’s continuing commitment to inviting cultures from around the world to New York City in their Summer for the City offerings. Thanks to this program, we were introduced to the mythic performance of Samsara by the Aakash Odedra Company at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater.
The dazzling dance duet was created by its two performers, Aakash Odedra and Hu Shenyuan, and is based on the classic 16th century Chinese novel, Journey to the West, attributed to Wu Cheng’en.
This fictionalized morality tale recounts the trials and tribulations of the monk Xuanzang (also referred to as Tang Sanzang or Tripitaka) in his quest to establish the Buddhist religion in China by undertaking the dangerous journey to the “western regions” – the area we now call India – to obtain Buddhist religious scriptures (sutras).
Along the way, the monk is helped and/or hindered by three disciples the Buddha has assigned to assist in his journey. They are represented by statues sitting in sand. The three – Monkey, Piggy, and Sandy – possibly symbolize the egoic mind, body, and soul that the monk has to overcome on his hazardous journey.
While this novel is a fictional tale, it’s based on the true story of the monk Xuanzang who actually undertook the grueling journey across the Silk Road to India around 629 AD to 645 AD.
His 16-year long journey culminated in his return to China with many artifacts and sacred objects that established the unifying Buddhist religion at a time between dynasties, when war was tearing the country apart. The tenets of Buddhism were a stabilizing factor much needed to bring the country together.
The hour-long program without intermission opened to a blackened stage. A lone seated figure was illuminated by a shaft of light from above. A base drum wakened the figure with a single thump, and he began to move rhythmically to the sound of high-pitched vocalizations.
Dressed simply in a loincloth, his body became animated, achieving impossible positions that only a double-jointed, highly classically trained dancer could accomplish – striking and holding positions seen only on India’s temple carvings and statues.
Effortlessly, he donned a monk’s robe and began to slowly perambulate across the stage as the music built in volume and intensity. His journey had begun.
The set was an empty stage except for the statue sitting on and surrounded by sand, and as the program progressed, other statues surrounded by sand emerged out of the darkness. Behind a darkened screen were the shadowy figures of the musicians: Beibei Wang and Michael Ormiston and the composer/singer Nicki Wells.
The monk journeyed on slowly as the music propelled his movement forward until another monk appeared, and a battle ensued. They engaged in stylized combat to the sound of wailing and drum beats.
Twirling and jumping with quick jabbing movements, the pair battled on, but the adversaries were equally matched, making for a truce. Spotlights from the ceiling then made a pattern for the two figures to interact finger to finger and toe to toe until they began to mirror each other’s movements as they recognized their mutual humanity.
The conflict ended, and the communion began to the sounds of bells as their bodies entwined together in what seemed to me to be the dance of Shiva, the Hindu Supreme God. The two dancers became one form with four arms, fingers, and toes animated and moving at speed.
At one point in the program, there was a thrilling musical interlude with the drum master creating a cascade of sound that reached a crescendo of such power that it brought the audience to its collective screaming feet. The dance culminated in a shower of sand that poured from the ceiling onto the dancing figures.
This action must be seen to be believed, as the dancers interacted with the sand as a living being while it permeated the sitting statues and the dancers alike, pouring down on them as they whirled like dervishes in a maelstrom.
Samsara is performance art unlike anything else I have ever seen. It’s imaginative and creative in the extreme and offers a perfect platform to showcase the amazing talents of the performers and musicians alike.
The degree of flexibility exhibited by both dancers with total control over every joint and muscle group independently was unique and illustrated the capacity of the human body’s range of motion. It incorporated movements from many different East Asian cultures, and I would categorize the style as Asian Fusion.
Thanks to Lincoln Center for providing access to this truly amazing dance performance. See excerpts below:
Check the Summer for the City programming at
https://www.lincolncenter.org/series/summer-for-the-city
Barbara Angelakis is one of the founders of LuxuryWeb Magazine, and she is its Senior Travel Writer. She travels the four corners of the world with a thirst for knowledge and a twinkle in her eye, seeking out the history of people and places and sharing her experiences. She specializes in culture and history along with luxury destinations, hotels/resorts/cruises/spas, and most recently Jewish Heritage, exploring the historical connection between Jews and their host countries. She has been recognized for outstanding coverage as “Journalist of the Year” by the Tanzania Tourist Board and is the recipient of the MTA Malta Tourism Press Award, the first American to receive this honor. For the past 25 years, Barbara has written extensively for LuxuryWeb Magazine, and her work can also be found at The Jerusalem Post, Jewish Link, Epoch Times,and Vision Times.
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