THE GLOBAL SOUL - THE BUDDHA PROJECT
Performance - Coproduction - Preview
Conceived and directed by Ong Keng Sen
With: Charlotte Engelkes, Kang Kwon Soon, Pichet Klunchun, Sophiatou
Kossoko, Toru Yamanaka, Zeng Jing Ping
FRI, 30th of May + SAT, 31st of May, 21.30 h |
SUN, 1st of June, 20.30 h
Admission: 14 Euro, reduced 10 Euro
SAT, 31st of May > Postshow Talk (free admission)
SAT, 7th of June,18.30 h > Talkshow with Ong Keng
Sen (free admission)
"When Gautama Buddha, as a young prince, first saw the pains
of the mortal world, he became alienated. He strove to understand
the spirit and soul beyond the diseased, the dead, the old and the
wasted bodies. He flagellated his body by starving himself to a
point where his backbone could touch his sternum, where his hair
fell in patches whenever he touched them. He then realized that
he needed a strong body to gravitate towards the spirit. Sitting
under the bodhi tree, Gautama travelled the world in the depths
of his imagination.
Perhaps he was the first global soul; perhaps when we travel, when
we search for home in our restless world today, sometimes we can
touch him..." Ong Keng Sen
> The Production
In his latest production, the director and IN TRANSIT curator, Ong
Keng Sen - who directed the critically acclaimed "The Continuum
: Beyond the Killing Fields" - has been inspired by Gautama
Buddha, by Pico Iyer, the travel writer, and by the personalities
of his collaborating artists.
Playing the contemporary travellers are the Swedish actress Charlotte
Engelkes, who appeared in Heiner Goebbel's Hashirigak; Paris-based
Nigerian dancer Sophiatou who was last seen in an impressive solo,
"Ibi L'ohun", for IN TRANSIT 02; and Pichet Klunchun who
has won many glowing reviews for his innovative fusion of Thai classical
royal dance and contemporary performances. They embody the material
and spiritual search of Buddha.
Their stories are about illumination, about airports and jetlag;
about thousand-year-old Chinese Opera embodied in Zeng Jin Ping,
and meditative Korean court singing by Kang Kwon Soon, within a
contemporary soundscape by Toru Yamanaka from the performance collective,
Dumb Type. Heman Chong, a Singaporean artist-in-residence at the
Kunstlerhaus Bethanien and whose last work was seen in Transmediale
03, will create the visual images for the production.
> The Ensemble
Sophiatou Kossoko infuses radical modern dance movements
with spiritual energies. She plumbs her own personality through
dance, moving in the border zones of visual art, improvisation and
body work.
Charlotte Engelkes, born in Stockholm, works in contemporary theatre
and modern dance. Her best-known pieces include the multimedia performance
"Hashirigaki" by Heiner Goebbels and "Search: Hamlet"
by Ong Keng Sen, which premiered at Elsinore Castle.
Pichet Klunchun, Thai dancer and choreographer, studied classical
Thai dance. He performed at the opening ceremonies of the "Asian
Games" in Bangkok in 1998 and the "Bangkok Sound and Light
Show, The River of King" in 2001, among other things.
Kang Kwon Soon is one of Korea's top singers. She has appeared
at numerous festivals, on television and on the radio, as well as
composing her own pieces and recording with the renowned Korean
percussion band Samul Nori.
Zeng Jing Ping is the director of the "Fujian Liyuan Opera
Theatre", the only group in China that specializes in this
form of opera, which is more than a thousand years old. She is known
for her ability to portray many different traditional characters
and for creating contemporary versions of Liyuan opera.
Toru Yamanaka from Japan is a composer, producer and Club DJ. Until
2000 he worked as a composer and sound designer for the Japanese
performance group Dumb Type. His art seeks to relate to a constantly
changing society.
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- Diva Siva >>
- Undesirable Elements Berlin >>
- Report on Giving Birth >>
- The Incredible Disappearing Woman >>
- Mapplethorpe >>
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