Martial arts give new dance a kick

A talented group of Asian-New Zealand dancers - including a martial arts master - take a creative leap with their modern tale shot through with Chinese folklore. By BERNADETTE RAE.


The occasion is strictly traditional, the performance eclectic, as young choreographer Taiwan-born Yu-Fen Wang, new on the Auckland scene, celebrates Chinese New Year.

In Chinese folklore the much-feared dragon Nian comes once every 12 months to terrify the people with his fiery breath and habit of swallowing entire families who have displeased him in one gulp. The joy of surviving Nian's annual reign of terror is said to be the origin of Chinese New Year celebrations.

"The monster lives on today, in the form of human fear," says Yu-Fen Wang.

Her show, New Year's Arrival, to be performed at the Maidment Theatre, is a blend of Chinese classical and Western contemporary dance which also incorporates techniques from Chinese opera and martial arts. She uses a Western-style, experimental theatre format with a soundtrack of live classical Chinese music and western recordings.

Its theme is a particularly Kiwi one as two sisters meet after a long separation - one sister lives in New Zealand, the other in China.

The Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days and during this time the progress made in the past year is reviewed. In Yu-Fen Wang's drama the review is more far-reaching as the sisters - and the New Zealand-born daughter of one of them - realise the huge physical and cultural distance between their two countries.

As the mythical stories of New Year unfold, Qua Quin, the exquisite goddess of renewal and new life, and Qua Gung, the red warrior who defends the worthy from Nian, appear. Qua Gung is played by veteran of the Beijing Opera and martial-arts master Shang-Gi Han.

For the women at the heart of this new drama the major issue is one of identity.

"The sister in China is stifled, trapped in the traditional Chinese woman's role and the New Zealand sister tries to help her stand out in her society as well as finding her own place in this new land," explains Yu-Fen Wang.

"The daughter needs to find her identity too, as a completely new generation, born in New Zealand."

Yu-Fen Wang immigrated to New Zealand with her parents in 1991. She had trained in classical Chinese dance and ballet at the Chinese Cultural University in Taiwan from the age of 10, and had also studied contemporary dance in her teens.

After three years in New Zealand, she returned to Taiwan and opened her own dance studio. But by 1996 she was back here and enrolled in the dance school at Unitec, graduating in 1998 as a Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts, with a major in dance.

"The New Zealand contemporary style is very different to what I learned in Taiwan," she says.

"We learned a lot of Martha Graham style there. Here there is much greater freedom, which reflects the openness of New Zealand's physical environment and the personality of the people.

"It is a good place to create. And to live. New Zealand is more of an international country and people are much more open-minded."

In 1999 she founded Dancemaker Productions in an attempt to explore the talents and creative ideas of a group of New Zealand citizens that she feels are under-represented in New Zealand theatre: the Asian-New Zealand artist, actor, musician and dancer.

Dancemaker organises cultural shows and performances for a range of artists and, in April last year, conceived and produced its first original work, Dissenting Desires.

Based on the life and work of Chinese-born poet Gu-Cheng, who later lived on Waiheke Island, the production was enthusiastically received by the Chinese community and Auckland's dance audience.

Performing in New Year's Arrival alongside Yu-Fen Wang and Shang-Gi Han are a group of actors including Candy Wing-Kei Ho and Filipino Marc Laureano. The live music at the performance will be led by Michael Chung Cheng Tang.

* New Year's Arrival, the Maidment Studio Theatre, February 9 -13.


The occasion is strictly traditional, the performance eclectic, as young choreographer Taiwan-born Yu-Fen Wang, new on the Auckland scene, celebrates Chinese New Year.

In Chinese folklore the much-feared dragon Nian comes once every 12 months to terrify the people with his fiery breath and habit of swallowing in one gulp entire families who have displeased him The joy of surviving Nian's annual reign of terror is said to be the origin of Chinese New Year celebrations.

"The monster lives on today, in the form of human fear," says Yu-Fen Wang.

Her show, New Year's Arrival, to be performed at the Maidment Theatre, is a blend of Chinese classical and Western contemporary dance which also incorporates techniques from Chinese opera and martial arts. She uses a Western-style, experimental theatre format with a soundtrack of live classical Chinese music and western recordings.

Its theme is a particularly Kiwi one as two sisters meet after a long separation - one sister lives in New Zealand, the other in China.

The Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days and during this time the progress made in the past year is reviewed. In Yu-Fen Wang's drama the review is more far-reaching as the sisters - and the New Zealand-born daughter of one of them - realise the huge physical and cultural distance between their two countries.

As the mythical stories of New Year unfold, Qua Quin, the exquisite goddess of renewal and new life, and Qua Gung, the red warrior who defends the worthy from Nian, appear. Qua Gung is played by veteran of the Beijing Opera and martial-arts master Shang-Gi Han.

For the women at the heart of this new drama the major issue is one of identity.

"The sister in China is stifled, trapped in the traditional Chinese woman's role and the New Zealand sister tries to help her stand out in her society as well as finding her own place in this new land," explains Yu-Fen Wang.

"The daughter needs to find her identity too, as a completely new generation, born in New Zealand."

Yu-Fen Wang immigrated to New Zealand with her parents in 1991. She had trained in classical Chinese dance and ballet at the Chinese Cultural University in Taiwan from the age of 10, and had also studied contemporary dance in her teens.

After three years in New Zealand, she returned to Taiwan and opened her own dance studio. But by 1996 she was back here and enrolled in the dance school at Unitec, graduating in 1998 as a Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts, with a major in dance.

"The New Zealand contemporary style is very different to what I learned in Taiwan," she says.

"We learned a lot of Martha Graham style there. Here there is much greater freedom, which reflects the openness of New Zealand's physical environment and the personality of the people.

"It is a good place to create. And to live. New Zealand is more of an international country and people are much more open-minded."

In 1999 she founded Dancemaker Productions in an attempt to explore the talents and creative ideas of a group of New Zealand citizens that she feels are under-represented in New Zealand theatre: the Asian-New Zealand artist, actor, musician and dancer.

Dancemaker organises cultural shows and performances for a range of artists and, in April last year, conceived and produced its first original work, Dissenting Desires.

Based on the life and work of Chinese-born poet Gu-Cheng, who later lived on Waiheke Island, the production was enthusiastically received by the Chinese community and Auckland's dance audience.

Performing in New Year's Arrival alongside Yu-Fen Wang and Shang-Gi Han are a group of actors including Candy Wing-Kei Ho and Filipino Marc Laureano. The live music at the performance will be led by Michael Chung Cheng Tang.

* New Year's Arrival, the Maidment Studio Theatre, February 9-13.