lcsd presents: silk road arts festival shadow light dance ... · 1 educational appreciation guide...

1 Educational Appreciation Guide designed and written by Hong Kong Institute of Aesthetic Education © Ming Ri Institute for Arts Education Ltd. and Hong Kong Institute of Aesthetic Education Ltd

LCSD presents: Silk Road Arts Festival

Shadow Light Dance Theatre A Deer of Nine Colours

Educational Appreciation Guide (Pre-performance)

Produced and performed by Unlock Dancing Plaza ∞ Ming Ri Institute for Arts Education

Appreciation Guide designed and written by Hong Kong Institute of Aesthetic Education

The Appreciation Guide consists of two phases. Pre-performance guide (the first phase) of

Shadow Light Dance Theatre A Deer of Nine Colours provides contextual materials for the

production. Post-performance guide (the second phase) provides suggestions for creative

activities after attending the performance to further respond and extend this art engagement

experience. The post-performance appreciation guide will be available for downloading on

webpage from 24/9 onwards.

(1) Classical Buddhist Story A Deer of Nine Colours

Buddhism together with Christianity and

Islam are regarded as the three main religions.

It is believed that Buddhism was spread via the

Silk Road to China from India, at the East Han

Dynasty. Together with the value of Buddhism,

painting, sculpture, architecture and music of

Buddhism also introduced into China. The

Dunhuang culture was then enriched

enormously.

No. 257 Cave Painting is about A Deer of Nine Colours, and was one of the

classical Buddhist stories.

Story Outline of A Deer of Nine Colours

The Deer of nine colours lives by the River Nile. One day a man was drowning and

the deer risking his own life to save this man. The man promised not to reveal the

deer’s location so that the deer could be saved from being hunted by greedy persons

for its skin and horns.

The Queen however dreamt of a deer

with nine colours. She wanted its skin to make

a cushion and its horns for a broom handle.

Trying to please the Queen badly, the King

offered huge award to whoever knew where

the deer was. The drowned man decided to

Photos from《敦煌石窟全集‧本生因緣故事畫卷》敦煌研究院主編商務印書館 1999

Silk Road Arts Festival - A Deer of Nine Colours Educational Appreciation Guide (Pre-performance)


turn in the deer for the reward. Once after he revealed the location of the deer, horrible

ulcers were grown on his face.

The imperial army surrounded the deer by the river, nowhere could the deer trying

to escape. It recognized the drowned man and looked at his ulcers, it knows it is him

who failed to keep the promise.

The deer then told the King how this man was being saved and how shameful of

him to return his kindness with greediness and selfishness. The King ordered that no

one should harm the deer and the kingdom remained good and peaceful.

Think and Respond � Religion is generally to nurture good nature of human. Some people interpret

different meanings to this story. Some read the deer kind and caring, and the

drowned man was selfish and cared for nothing. He was condemned by his own

behavior. If every person were like this man, the world would have no way out even

it might looked ‘rich’ with materials and resources.

� What does A Deer of Nine Colours mean to us nowadays? Does the Deer

represent Nature while we were the greedy ones and care nothing for the world?

What is your deer?

� There is story in the painting, and each painting tells a story. We may observe the

Dunhuang murals closely. How the story is told through the drawings, lines,

symbols and arrangements?

� In this shadow light dance theatre production, what are the moments that stand out

to you most? What sort of story are postures and movements of the dancers telling

you?

Photos from《敦煌石窟全集‧本生因緣故事畫卷》敦煌研究院主編商務印書館 1999

Reference material: http://www.ctworld.org.tw/sutra_stories/index.htm

http://hk.epochtimes.com/archive/Issue15/fdxs-1.html



(2) The journey of the Dunhuang’s cultural heritage

The adventure movie series of Indiana Jones and Mummy provided great

enjoyment. The treasure of the Dunhuang Caves was also taken away by European,

Japanese and Russian archaeologists.

Following them, the Japanese, Russian and American archaeologists have taken

away most of the cultural relics. Not much cultural heritage of the Caves was left. These

few remainders were kept in the museums in Beijing such as National Palace Museum.

No wonder there is a saying “Dunhuang is in China, but the Study of Dunhuang is in the

world”.

It started with the disclosure of the

cave in 1899 by a Daoist monk Wang

Yuanlu.

In 1899,

Dunhuang

Cave was

founded

March 1907, Marc

Aurel Stein, from

England, took 24 boxes

of Buddhist scrolls and

5 boxes of silk

paintings to London.

February 1908, Frenchman

named Paul Pelliot also

“bought” another 2000 scrolls.



Think and Respond � Mr Chang Shuhong, who was called “The Protector of Dunhuang” because of his

passion and efforts given to Dunhuang arts and culture. He firstly heard of

Dunhuang when he was studying oil painting in Paris in the 40s. Imagine how he

may feel when he has to learn about the great art treasure of his country from an

art book written by a foreigner in a foreign country.

� Let’s imagine how astonishing those archaeologists are when they walked into the

Caves. The sight, the environment and atmosphere…

� When is your first time hearing of the word “Dunhuang”? Does it related to the

Dunhuang Mural? Or the Dunhuang Chinese Resturant on Nathan Road,

Kowloon?

� Unlock Dancing Plaza ∞ Ming Ri Institute for Arts Education produced and

performed A Deer of Nine Colours will include materials of Dunhuang. They

probably wouldn’t be able to provide the original copy of cultural relics from

Dunhuang. In what ways do you think they will tie in with Dunhuang culture in

connection with the space and environment?

Photos from: http://photo.blog.sina.com.cn

Reference material 《莫高窟史話》敦煌研究院所編樊錦詩主編中國江蘇美術出版社 2009 第 15-18章

If people wish to see the live art

works of Dunhuang, they probably

have to go to the museums in

Britain, France and around the

world



(3) Heritage of Dunhuang arts

Rome, in the eyes of European, is generally considered as the origin of arts and

arts centre during the Renaissance period. It is a place where all artists must visit. For

Chang Shuhong, Dunhuang is the heart of Chinese traditional arts.

As mentioned above, although the art treasure was unveiled, they were slipped to

foreign countries. With the impact of the First World War and the May 4th Movement,

painters and intellectuals, started to rethink what tradition was. This reflection motivated

them to ask what are the cores of our culture that was lasted for thousand years, and

what should be thrown away. This idea is similar to the Renaissance of the Western

world.

Since 1938, there were Chinese painters starting to investigate the artistic content

of the Caves.

(Photos provided by Wong Tim-keung)

With their investigations and studies, the artistic contents in the Caves could then

be passed on.



Think and Respond

� If you were an archaeologist, what information does the Silk Road Arts Festival

programmes provide you? Elements related to humanity, arts, or others? How the

artists and art groups link their creations with values of Dunhuang?

� Besides painting, how other artistic creations - music, dances, theatres - are being

inspired by the Dunhuang Arts? Did they just simply reproduce the old ones?

� When you appreciate these performances, try to bring these questions along with

you. See how they may influence your viewing experience as compared with your

past experiences.

A painting by Mr. Zhang Daiqian

(Image source from www.google.com.hk)

A painting by Guan Shanyue

(Image source:

http://big5.ftnet.com/whys/whysnr/200509/t2

0050930_14156.htm)



(4) Shadow Light Dance with Dunhuang Arts

Tell story with light

Ming Ri Institute of Arts Education focuses on puppetry performances. There are

different types of puppetry, such as string puppets, gloves puppets, and shadow

puppets. Contrary to common belief, puppetry has a deep relationship with the

Dunhuang arts.

The love story of Han emperor and his

mistress brought shadow puppets into the royal

court. When the mistress died, the emperor was

so upset that lost passion to live on. So

everything was put aside, so does his own

health. Meanwhile, a shadow puppet

performance was shown to him without letting

him know. He then believed that his mistress

has flown to the sky and managed to rest in

peace.

After the door was opened to trading with the outside world in Han Dynasty,

Buddhism was introduced to China. Techniques of shadow puppets were used as a tool

for preaching. And the other way round, development of Buddhism assisted the

development of shadow puppets too.

With the invention of technology, there

are many other means and methods

developed to play with light and shadow

nowadays.

Think and Respond

� Have you ever watched a shadow puppet performance? When you watch A Deer

of Nine Colours, how is it different from those you watched before? Did you notice

where the light sources are from? Is the projection area different as well?

� Stage is also a place of light and shadow. Other than paying attention to the story

plot, did you notice the changing of lighting?

Photos from Wong Tim-keung

Reference material: 王添強《中國木偶 2000年》香港明日藝術教育機構 2009



Butoh

This is not the first time Butoh shown in Hong Kong. As Buddhism was originated

from India, Butoh was introduced to Hong Kong. By two Japaneses who has been

trained with modern dance in Germany, Butoh was created as a breakthrough

integrating traditional Japanese dance and western modern dance frameworks.

In 1960, Tatzumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno created Butoh.

They examined the essence of modern dance and return to

the basic body language and self psychal.

Butoh is so different from mainstream dance

sytle. It is about a kind of mental state, a focus,

and patience.

It takes away the man-made beauty while

starts from the quiet inner reflection. It does not

have fix steps as ballet, which shown beautiful

body posture, but presents with curved leg or

improvised forms. These ways of presentations

intend to express basic instincts of mankind.

What draws audience’s attractions are their baldheads with white make-up. This us

used to wipe out the role of dancers so that they can be viewed with their original self,

the purest self with baldhead represents a return to embryo-form. Dancers sometimes

wear wigs or different clothings to represent children, women, old people or even mad

ones.

Think and Respond

� While Butoh dancers have no fixed steps to follow, do you think the dancers are

trying to reproduce the story of A Deer of Nine Colours? Did they give a new

meaning to the story?

� In this shadow light dance production, how the dancers use their body to illustrate

the spirit of the Deer and the greediness of the drowned man?

Reference material: http://nyobakan.blogspot.com/2008/04/blog-post_8191.html,

http://www.pts.org.tw/~prgweb1/art/06perform/japandance.htm

lcsd presents: silk road arts festival shadow light dance ... · 1 educational appreciation guide...

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