Sutra – Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

      Choreography : Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui                        Music composition: Szymon Brzóska
         Premiere: 27 May 2008                                             Live music: Alies Sluiter, Olga Wojciechowska,Laura Anstee,
                                                                                                                                  Coordt Linke and Szymon Brzóska

This is a piece is Inspired by the Shaolin Temple that Cherkaoui visited in 2007.He created a choreography that brings together two civilizations, two cultures with two different perspective. The east and the west. The Shaolin Monks and a European man.
What is most surprising is the skillful use of wooden boxes to modify the space. Flowers, temples, bridges, streets, walls... the boxes seem to take many forms and the Shaolin Monks appear and disappear behind them almost magically, as if everything were an illusion. Eighteen Shaolin Monks moves with such unison, precision and a natural quality that you can’t take your eyes off the stage.

The stage is a white box; in which an alternation of figures and movements change the space; creating another dimension,images and places inside a room.The Live music transpires from a veiled background in which, observing carefully, we can distinguish the silhouettes of the musicians, who are not part of the performance. The music is not a support for the choreography but an integral part of the environment that Cherkaoui wanted to create.

The attention is captured by the choreography that makes the audience participate as part of the story, part of the exchange between two cultures, part of the game of shapes and jumps suspended in mid-air.


The Kung Fu practiced by Shaolin Monks cut the air and gives the performance another dimension to complete it.  
A perfect union between technique and precision,
expression and dedication.The image of a man who comes from far away.A man observes a foreign culture starting from the basics. The man commences in dialogue with a child sitting in front of him, in a game of exchanges and photographs.The lights used are simple and gives an atmosphere that allows the dialogue between the spectator and the scene.The costumes are a further element that differentiates the two cultures, giving dynamic to the movements and a practical sense that characterizes the simplicity and speed with which the dancers move and moves the space.

In conclusion I think this piece gives a good illustration of Sidi Larbi’s experience with the Shaolin Monks as a European man observing a different culture. He gives us a new way of looking a different culture, without  comparing, diving into it from the eyes of a child.
By Veronica Totolo