Human bodies choreographed to a world of chaos
Audiences might need a bit of science knowledge to fully understand the meaning behind a new contemporary dance premiering at the Shanghai International Dance Center this weekend.
The dance, presented by the Xiexin Dance Theater troupe, is entitled “Entropy” — a physics concept used in measuring the degree of chaos or randomness in a system. The Second Law of Thermodynamics says things evolve in a direction from a state of order to a state of disorder.
“The idea of creating ‘Entropy’ came up amid last year’s COVID-19 pandemic, when the normal order of people’s lives got disturbed,” said choreographer Yin Fang.
The dance movements illustrate relationships and emotional connections of people in society.
Yin was a founding member of the Beijing Dance Theater troupe. Despite his success as a movie and television actor over the years, he has always maintained his passion for the dance stage.
Yin Fang
“The increase of entropy is irreversible,” Yin explained. “When you try to reduce entropy, the amount of entropy you add to the world is usually more than the entropy you reduce. Thus, is so-called ‘entropy reduction’ still meaningful?”
Audiences may ponder that weighty question after watching the performance, he said.
“To counter the increase of entropy and disorder, people always re-establish their own order, test the boundaries of balance and seek a stable mode of collaboration,” he said. “I’d like to demonstrate this process with dancers’ bodies. Dancers have heads, limbs, torsi. We give them weight, structure and direction, and build up a movement rule for the bodies.”
Such esoteric concepts were difficult to grasp at first by dancer Xie Xin.
“The requirement is that a dancer’s movements are no longer ‘beautiful,’ but rather ‘purposeful,’” she said. “It means that each movement must have a reason and a consequence.”
“Entropy” tries to illustrate relationships and emotional connections of people in society.
She added: “Yin is very nice in person, but he is also a very strict choreographer who clearly knows what he wants.”
Yin invited composer Wang Yubo to write the music for “Entropy.” Wang said he reduced emotions in the music to make it “simple” for a rational choreography.
“According to Yin’s requirements, the music had to be neither melodic nor tuneful,” said Wang. “It might not be pleasing to the ear in a traditional way, but it does help build a sense of space.”
“Entropy” is staging four performances at the dance center from Friday to Sunday.
