Rhythm is the linkage of all life
14, the thirteenth work of Tao Ye’s “Numerical Series”, is about the exploration of rhythm and change. How to challenge the new context of the body? This time, Tao Ye breaks the previous creative method of repeated cycles, and uses the ever-changing texture of movement to explore the space-time possibility between movement and stillness.
The music of this work boldly adopts a single minimalist well-balanced temperament, and uses the progressive method of the hour hand to correspond to the complex dynamics of the body in dance. Through the audio-visual relationship of less is more, the Circular Movement System (body technique of TAO Dance Theater) is expanded to the ultimate.
The cuttings and foldings of points, lines and planes in the space, the agitation and swing with the control of weight, make the work return to pure body movement again, and all possibilities will unfold in a changing and unchanged rhythm.
Choreography and Sound concept:
TAO Ye
Lighting Design:
MA Yue, TAO Ye
Costume Design:
DUAN Ni
Costume Maker:
DNTY
Piece for 14 dancers > duration: 30 min
Choreography:
TAO Ye
Music:
Xiao He
Lighting Design:
MA Yue, TAO Ye
Costume Design:
DUAN Ni
Costume Maker:
DNTY
13 is the twelfth installment of choreographer Tao Ye’s “Numerical Series”. This work uses the concept of the Trinity to correspond to the number 13, which includes solo dance, duet dance and group dance. These three types of body interaction and connection constitute the entire creation. In the work, the dancers are connected into a whole, and then gradually fission into different forms. The continuous changes in the dance sequence during the movement open up a complex physical world: the realization of impact, extrusion, fusion, and falling, rebound, pull and other infinite phenomena. Through slow, medium and fast rhythms, the bodies are transformed into water, mountains, rocks and all things. At this time, the body, as a medium, demonstrates the vagaries of imagination. The concepts of one, two and multiple dimensions form a rule. In this creation, the choreographer cultivated the three changes of body, space, and time to form a chaotic whole. Rigorous and open concepts are used in the choreography to respond to the different states of the present concrete and impermanent.
14,the thirteenth work of Tao Ye’s “Numerical Series”, is about the exploration of rhythm and change. How to challenge the new context of the body? This time, Tao Ye breaks the previous creative method of repeated cycles, and uses the ever-changing texture of movement to explore the space-time possibility between movement and stillness.
The music of this work boldly adopts a single minimalist well-balanced temperament, and uses the progressive method of the hour hand to correspond to the complex dynamics of the body in dance. Through the audio-visual relationship of less is more, the Circular Movement System (body technique of TAO Dance Theater) is expanded to the ultimate.
The cuttings and foldings of points, lines and planes in the space, the agitation and swing with the control of weight, make the work return to pure body movement again, and all possibilities will unfold in a changing and unchanged rhythm.
PWorld premiere by the National Dance Company, at Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid (Spain), on December 7, 2023.
Premiere: 24 August 2021,
National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing, China)
artistic Direction:
TAO Ye, DUAN Ni
artistic Direction:
TAO Ye, DUAN Ni
DANCE
THEATER
china
AO
Concept and Direction:
Wayne McGregor
Choreography:
Wayne McGregor, in collaboration with the dancers
Music:
Jlin
Additional Music :
Hildur Gudnadottir,
Zelienople, Arcangelo Corelli,
Max Richter,
and Carsten Nicolai
and Ryuichi Sakamoto
Set Design and Projection:
Ben Cullen Williams
Lighting Design:
Lucy Carter
Costume Design:
Aitor Throup
Dramaturgy:
Uzma Hameed
10 dancers > 80 minutes without intermission
Crédit photos >
11 © FAN Xi
The title stands for both the number 11 and for two separate, independent 1s.
In 11, the dancers comply with a rule that is at once freeing and limiting: The movements of their lower body are strictly choreographed, but the movements of the upper body are completely improvised. Each dancer goes back and forth in their own independent path. The space for their hips to rotate, the orientation of their knees, and every step of their feet are predetermined, while their shoulders, elbows, wrists, spines and heads are free to move in different and random ways. How do we find the balance between the nature of the individual and the order of the group? 11 operates on a deeper understanding of what constitutes singularity and of where freedom comes from.
Informed by this restriction and this freedom, 11 dancers move in a kaleidoscope of colour and embrace the harmony created by their differences.
This project marks Tao Ye’s first attempt at integrating different aspects of music into his work. Tao Ye regards music as an external condition that interacts with the human body in a variety of ways, just like molecules colliding with suspended particles, leaving their imprints in time and space. 11 comprises 11 short dance pieces. Musician Xiao He experimented with different instruments and created 11 independent pieces of electronic music in different styles. As a result, the performance of 11 becomes a meeting point for the imagination of its creators.
Double-bill 13 & 14 is with a 15-minute intermission
Double-bill 13 & 14 is with a 15-minute intermission
13
14
Premiere: 7 January 2023,
The National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing, China)
TAO Dance Theater is a contemporary dance company founded by Tao Ye, Duan Ni and Wang Hao in Beijing in 2008. It is the first contemporary dance company in China to be invited to perform at the Lincoln Center Art Festival in New York, Edinburgh International Art Festival, Sydney Opera House and Theatre de la Ville in Paris. It has also been invited to perform at the American Dance Festival (ADF) and served as resident artists. Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, UK, commissioned the company’s five works and invited the company to perform in London for six times.
“TAO Dance Theater has committed to a stripped-back, “pure dance” aesthetic, eliminating any categorisation of movement, and by extension, of themselves. The body is presented as an element to be perceived for its optical allure – devoid of representation, narrative, or context, simply existing as an object alone. This is only ever amplified by the use of light and sound design, allowing the viewers to be confronted and often challenged by the rigorous body focussed techniques, vocabulary and forms.
TAO Dance Theater is an exceptional company of vision, mission, and purpose. Like the great dance makers of the past, they understand the very nature of body as a ‘microcosm of the universe’ and have found their special territory to explore and expand. Their deep dive here, in this unfamiliar territory is ingenious, significant, and edifying as we are simultaneously embraced and provoked by their brilliance”.
The Venice Biennale 2023 awarded the Silver Lion to TAO Dance Theater.
13
14
NOVEMBER
OCTOBER
SEPTEMBER
SEE DATES
february
january
december
SEE DATES
program a
Dancer/Artistic Director
Born in Xi'an, Duan Ni graduated from the Shaanxi Art College. She graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy modern dance choreography department (Guangdong branch), led by dance education pioneer Madame Yang Meiqi, founding director of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, China's first modern dance company. During school, Duan Ni received a scholarship of ACC to attend the American Dance Festival. For the first time, Duan Ni systematically taught "Relaxation Techniques" in China, and her cutting-edge teaching concepts subverted the inherent concept of body movement of domestic dancers.
Duan Ni used to dance with Shanghai Jin Xing Dance Theatre, Akram Khan Dance Company (UK), and Shen Wei Dance Arts (USA). In August 2008, she joined TAO Dance Theater as the Founding Dancer and Artistic Director. As the first Chinese contemporary dancer invited by international dance companies, Duan Ni accepted all concepts and styles with the inclusiveness of her body in this series of rich backgrounds at home and abroad, and formed her own body language and characteristics - softness and toughness, pure and open. She has performed three times at the Lincoln Center for Performing Art in New York with different three dance companies. Each time, her performance was singled out by The New York Times, lauded by critics as "extraordinary”, “formidable” and “athletic control”. In 2019, she was recommended by VOGUE and selected as an outstanding woman of "Light of Power" by BULGARI.
“In the first part a woman with a shaved head, the formidable Duan Ni, twirls a long staff. Passing it from hand to hand and behind her back and over her head, she herself turns. The propeller whirl of the stick, catching the light like a circular saw blade, hypnotizes, while the incremental progressions in the movement loops engross.”
— The New York Times, USA Etats Unis
Artistic Director/Choreographer
Born in Chongqing, Tao Ye is a graduate of the Chongqing Dance School in China. After dancing with the Shanghai Army Song & Dance Ensemble, he joined Shanghai Jin Xing Dance Theater, and later moved to Beijing to join the Beijing Modern Dance Company (BMDC). In 2008, at the age of 23, Tao Ye founded TAO Dance Theater. His main works include: “Numerical Series” - Weight x 3, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14; “Non-numerical Series” - Contrast; “Arts Live” Series - 12 Hours and Infinite Walking.
Inspired by Oriental thought, Tao Ye developed Circular Movement System in combination with his own style of dance. This system enjoys a high reputation internationally. At the age of 27, he was invited to perform at Lincoln Center Festival in New York City. He was named Sadler’s Wells 2011-2013 “New Wave Associates”. Tao Ye was also invited to collaborate on-site with the Y-3 Brand by Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto, create production with Cloud Gate Theatre and star in the film Blue Sky Bones directed by Cui Jian. He has been invited to cross-disciplinary collaborations such as film, theatre, fashion design, video, photography and etc.
Tao Ye consistently signifies his choreography with minimalistic style, repetition and restriction. His creative concepts include: focusing on the grooves of the spine while removing the movements of dancers’ limbs, replacing the accompanying soundtrack with live vocals from the dancers seeking to make the dancers become a “mobile sound system”, restricting dancers’ bodies on the dance floor seeking to limit the vision in two dimensions, naming his works simply with numbers, and etc. His concepts were acclaimed “definitely on the cutting edge” and are very challenging for dancers and spectators.
“Mr. Tao has an ability to draw you inside his austere, meditative world; if you go willingly, you realize that the body is a sacred place.”
— The New York Times, USA
TAO YE
DUAN NI
1 1
program B
represents the Compañía Nacional de Danza, in France, Asia and Oceania.
Dance