The Chinese play “Tea Spell” had a therapeutic effect on the audience

Zhao Liang, who staged this performance, is one of the pioneers of modern dance in China. But his modern dance turns to ancient times, which feeds the work of this unique choreographer. For example, he did this in 2017, creating the play “Wu-shu – martial dance,” in which he combined elements of modern dance and oriental martial arts.

In the ballet “The Tea Spell” the choreographer also turns to ancient times. After all, the tea ceremony in China has been known for more than 5,000 years, and it is an important part of the spiritual culture of the Celestial Empire.

From the MK dossier: The ceremony is called Gongfu Cha. In those distant times, the local population was just beginning to grow and study the properties of tea leaves, which were initially used only for medicinal purposes. This is a special philosophy and culture that originated in ancient times.

The Chinese not only slowly drink tea, but enjoy it, inhaling its aroma, feeling the taste and color change of the drink during the infusion process. According to ancient traditions, the tea ceremony allows you to achieve harmony, peace and good health.

Even before the start of the performance, a girl almost naked appears in the auditorium, wearing a bodice and flesh-colored panties, who involves the audience in the upcoming action. This is the spirit of tea. Her character embodies the most intimate, perhaps the most intimate moments of the tea ceremony, which, although invisible to the eye, have the strongest impact on the person drinking real Chinese tea. This is an interactive character that brings elements of an immersive performance to The Tea Spell.

She even comes out to the audience with a bamboo pole, similar to a modern fishing rod, on which an ancient incense burner is suspended, giving the audience the opportunity to smell the aroma of the ancient drink. Having tasted it, the heroes on stage fall into a deep faint, but the audience in the hall holds on…

– Her character has no physical dimension. He is and is not at the same time. Therefore, she walks freely around the stage, bypassing the main action and the history of the characters. She has her own dimension in which she exists. Nevertheless, the characters feel her presence,” Zhao Liang reveals to me the secrets and symbolic meaning of the characters in his play.

This incense burner is over a thousand years old. The fact is that the source of inspiration for the play “Tea Spell” was cultural relics found in the Famen Temple in Xi’an Province. The temple was built during the Eastern Han period (25-220 BC) and is famous for housing the relics of Sakuamuni, the founder of Buddhism. Xi’an witnessed the “golden age” of the Tang Dynasty. Then it was the largest city in the East and the starting point of the Silk Road, which connected Asia and Europe.

In 1987, the temple attracted the attention of archaeologists around the world. When they began to clear the foundation for reconstruction, they discovered Tang treasures. They were buried there for over 1,100 years. Among them were found 4 Buddhist relics, 121 items made of gold and silver for the worship of Buddha or for use by the imperial court, 400 pearls, jewelry, jasper items and many valuable items made of silk. Sacred tea relics are also kept in the monastery – one of the most highly revered objects in China. They date back to the 9th century AD.

The “Tea Spell” is, in fact, dedicated to the interpretation of these relics.

– These relics inspired me. I first saw them in the museum. Then I thought, why in the world of modern dance are there so few productions on the theme of tea culture in general? – Zhao Liang tells me how this performance was born.

Meanwhile, two more characters appear on the stage, mincing with quick steps – the servants of the main character of this mystical action, who is called the Tea Deity. She does not appear in the play right away. The servants, as it were, prepare the viewer for her appearance by placing 10 religious objects for the tea ceremony on the stage in a path of light caught by the spotlight.

– The two characters partly embody the servants and assistants of the Tea Deity. In China they are called “Moon Shadows”. They carry out communication between the characters of the play and the Tea Deity. And it is no coincidence that they were chosen as male and female characters, because they embody the interaction of the polar forces of the world in their dance.

And then, in a long red robe made of luxurious Chinese silk, trailing behind her, with wide sleeves, on which cranes with large white wings are embroidered, the Tea Deity herself appears on the stage – in a golden crown in the shape of exotic tea leaves and with long golden fingers. Like all the other characters, he has a heavily whitened face, which is initially covered by a white mask.

The servants present a fan, a Chinese umbrella, remove the crown, mask, and then on stage, each in turn, the main characters of the wordless play appear – the Fisherman, representing the common people, the noble Bowhunter from the aristocracy, and, finally, the monk, personifying people with spiritual by force. Before meeting the Deity, each of them performs a solo symbolic dance, rich in pantomime, revealing the character of a particular character.

It is clear that the three heroes represent a collective image. Before us is a traditional magical story characteristic of ancient Chinese literature, which can be interpreted in completely different ways by a modern viewer. Nevertheless, it still has a very definite philosophical meaning and speaks not only about the personal feelings and personal experiences of each hero, but addresses primarily the modern viewer.

– I deliberately leave a wide field for such contact and associations that arise in the process of watching the performance. Therefore, it is not only important how the characters act and what they live, but also how it resonates in each viewer, what images it gives rise to in them. This is the story of how the Tea Deity awakens in people who drink the cup and come into contact with something sacred, a thirst, a desire to find, possess or become a part. What none of the heroes can achieve. Here we are talking about the fact that all people are in one way or another receptive to the beautiful, to something extraordinary, sacred. And everyone interprets it in their own way, says Zhao Liang.

– In modern China, the attitude towards tea drinking is the same as it was in ancient times. Somewhere the attitude towards it as a sacred rite has been preserved? – I ask the choreographer.

– There are many places and people who practice the tradition of sacred tea drinking. But now the meaning of this ceremony is not so sacred, it has become more personal. Because social roles have changed. For example, there is no emperor. It’s not even so much a ceremony. It’s actually just a process of drinking tea, which is different from how it is done in Japan. The Chinese ceremony, unlike the Japanese one, does not have a mandatory set of rules. It comes from human needs. It simply means a certain state of inner peace.

The choreographer clearly succeeded in achieving a state of inner peace in the viewer. Combining modern choreography with elements of traditional Chinese plastic arts, he created a performance in the style of Chan Buddhism. The Buddhist concept of Zen and tea culture merge in this ballet. The calming atmosphere relieves the tension that has accumulated during the day, and a real process of relaxation occurs, as if you were at an appointment with a psychotherapist.