Dancing into the modern age

Dancing into the modern age

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Dancing into the modern age

The adventures of Evliya Chelebi, a 17th century Ottoman world traveller, have been translated into a contemporary dance performance, Travelogue 2. Choreographed by Beyhan Murphy and performed by the Modern Dance Theater Istanbul, the troupe has travelled around the world and made a pit stop in Bangkok last week as part of the International Dance Festival, on at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center until tomorrow.

Globe-trotting Chelebi travelled the world and recorded his observations _ about nature, the social life and culture of people at the time, fantasies and magic, and things that were strange to him.

"What I did was pick out the things that are funny and not really strange to us now, and I try to find the meanings behind them," says Murphy.

"For example, the meaning of the guy falling into the belly of the big whale and trying to get out is associated with the prophet Jonah. So there's always something behind it and that's what I wanted to play with."

In Travelogue 2, the stage is dimly lit and intimate. The 13 dancers are dressed in corporate office wear in all shades of grey _ blazers and slacks and button downs. The performance opens to catwalk tunes, a mix between mainstream pop and house. The dancers roll silver carry-on suitcases around while spinning and high-kicking.

The performers danced to the "Jonah" episode as the story was projected on a screen in the background. Texts written by Chelebi were read. The suitcases were then pushed to the sides of the stage and opened, full of clothes. The performers constantly took cues, changing their outfits off to the side but still on stage. The performance was sectioned into acts, as we "travelled" to various destinations.

Travelogue 2 was shown as part of the International Dance Festival.

"As a secondary parallel, I wanted this to be the journey of a contemporary person. Not literally an outside journey, but a journey inward. The journey can be spiritual, mental or emotional. It can be about self-discovery, the discovery of one another, a journey into another person, through another person. The contemporary writer that expresses this most [eloquently] would be Elif Shafak," says Murphy.

She has infused passages by the author throughout the performance, read by performers and also shown on the screen.

Travelogue 2 seeks to be a juxtaposition of history and the present _ Evliya Chelebi and Elif Shafak _ of the inside and outside, and of thought and emotion. There is a lot going on, but there isn't much room for stray interpretation. The juxtaposition appears quite literally _ we see the performers dressed as though they are going to work, then seconds later we see them in colourful fisherman's plaid. We hear cheesy dance music and we hear the sounds of the past, such as drumming made with sticks.

The three sides of the stage are strewn with props. The performers actually rest on stage when they're not dancing _ some watch an act from the side while laying on a quilt.

"The quilt is a continuation from Travelogue 1," says Murphy. "In Turkish culture, we use it from when we are babies. Our mothers make them. It can be used as a pillow, you can cover yourself, you can protect yourself. It can be like a cover of the dervish. It could be something that you can meditate under. There are many factors [in choosing the props]. There's also food. There's how we live on top of each other, how we're close to each other all the time."

The distracting props and overstimulation of senses, Murphy says, are intentional.

"I don't mind the audience missing some of the dance. I think it's important to read the translation of the text. For me, the text is important. I do this a lot in my shows. You can miss something. But I believe in this day and age our eyes are so used to picking up so much information," she says.

Travelogue 2, then, can be seen more as mixed media than a mere dance performance.

Murphy, in staging the performance, also hopes to express the Turkish culture. She lets the show grow organically, explaining: "The company is sometimes just playing themselves, and there are improvisations involved, though not a lot."

The performers "hang out" on stage _ they drink tea and they fold their clothes. Their lives translate into performance, and the Ottoman life transforms into modern Turkish life.

"Through the performance, I'm happy to share the mess and the noise. Because that's how we actually live. I'm happy to be to sharing this richness, this changeability. This crowdedness. This is what our lives are about. I'm happy to be sharing contemporary identity of a Turkish artist, which can contain a very deep historical undertone," Murphy says.


The International Dance Festival is organised by Friends of the Arts Foundation. The festival runs in Bangkok and Chiang Mai from Nov 22-Dec 6, and includes performances and workshops. Visit www.thaiticketmajor.com or call 08-5100-3050.

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