Tang Concubines is a gorgeous, exotic ballet set in ancient China. It's filled with pageantry, colorful costumes, and startlingly beautiful backdrops, scores of primarily female dancers, thrilling sword and spear spinning martial arts numbers, and thundering percussion music throughout.
The precision and grace of Jonathan Han and Liang Huiling's choreography is breathtaking. The performers are all extraordinary. But actually, that's pretty much what I'd expected from a big, flashy show like this.
What I never expected was that there would be such interesting and finely developed characters, genuine dramatic appeal, thematic unity and a sense of immediacy, even intimacy within a sweeping saga.
Created by Denver resident Dr. Dennis K. Law, Tang Concubines devotes one act each to the stories of two of China's most famous, or infamous women, both essentially sexual slaves to emperors, who distinguished themselves and rose above their state to alter the character and direction of an entire dynasty.
The more satisfying of the two acts is the first, the story of Wu Ze Tian, whose contortionist abilities bewitch both the Emperor and his son. A true dragon lady, Wu Ze Tian smothers her own infant daughter, blames the empress, and once she is banished, marries the emperor. The emperor dies mysteriously, so she marries the son, who also dies mysteriously. Wu Ze Tian ascends to power, becoming the only female to rule in Chinese history. She has an exceptionally long reign, but the price of power is staggering.
A generation later, Yang Gui Fei, one of the four most beautiful women in Chinese legend, attracts the attention of the new emperor, while bathing in a lake. Her spectacular sexual skills lead to tastefully and modestly staged orgies, and the empire begins to crumble from within, due to moral decadence and self-preoccupation. Fleeing from rebels, she sacrifices herself to shore up the emperor's forces, but it's only a temporary fix.
From a Western, Christian point of view, neither concubine is particularly admirable, but their stories are nevertheless fascinating. Echoes of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire come to mind, along with Elizabethan England and the story of David and Bathsheba. The stories of these two women provide an unusually strong framework around which Dr. Law builds his spectacle.
And spectacular it is. Some of the scenes are indescribably beautiful. The mostly pre-recorded music at the Buell theatre was too loud at times, but the energy, grace and almost supernatural ability of the dancers makes Tang Concubines a rare and satisfying diversion.
Posted by Fr. Patrick Dorn at 6:19 PM 0 comments
