龜之劇場

眼‧神

Joining contemporary dance together with traditional Taiwanese opera, " Gaze of the Gods " uses the human body to break the boundary between humankind and the gods. Traditional deity puppets are displayed across the stage, acting simultaneously as an exhibition and a performance space. By breaking away from the conventional performance space, we lessen the barrier between the audience and the stage, and draw the viewers closer to the performance.

Four of the performers are professional contemporary dancers, who use their bodies to explore different ways of expression. One Taiwanese opera singer acts out multiple roles as a storyteller, a master of rituals, a faithful believer, and an immortal deity. Approaching the deities from different angles, the performers weave in between the puppets to thread together a storyline.

A suona woodwind, piano, cello, and sheng reedpipe join together as the chorus for the entire performance.

Through contemporary dance, the poetry of brilliant colors and shapes, and accompanied by the melody and rhythm of traditional Taiwanese opera, we hope to give the dormant deities a new spark of life and awaken the long-slumbering camphor tree. In this way, we use the heart to reestablish the relationships between humankind and the gods, humankind and nature, and humankind and all living things.

1. The opening axe
Before becoming a deity puppet, a tree that has grown for many years must sacrifice its life to the blow of a heavy axe. The tree must be split open at an auspicious time, and from nothingness a new spirit is born.

2. Ruler of the gods
Craftsmen who carve the wooden deities use a special measuring tape (sometimes called a feng shui ruler) which is based on the five aspects of birth, old age, sickness, death and suffering. The ruler is divided into eight sections, each with an auspicious or inauspicious meaning. As the wood is shaped into a deity, it loses its original soul because of the greed and delusion of humans – whose final action is to seek to validation of their own beliefs using the feng shui ruler.

3. Casting divination blocks
In the traditional era of dualistic beliefs, the divination blocks offered believers a wider range of responses for consideration. (The divination blocks are shaped like a crescent moon with one side rounded and the other side flat. The divination is performed by tossing the two blocks into the air and observing how they land – two rounded sides up: two flat sides up; left rounded side up, right rounded side down; or left flat side up, right flat side down.) The greater number of answers available for each question asked, results in a diversity of possible outcomes.

(4) The deity
The newly carved deity has a body but no spirit - until the incantation is spoken and the puppet is infused with divine power. The newborn deity moves and explores its surroundings under the control of humans, as if they have switched roles. This interdependence and exchange of positions reminds us of the dancers continuously challenging their bodies to discover new movement.

5. Gaze of the Gods
Gods and Buddhas offer hope to humankind with a calm, dispassionate gaze. But if people fall away from their beliefs, then the god’s situation is as tenuous as a mud bodhisattva crossing the river. Will it survive the crossing, or will it dissolve into nothingness? The interdependent relationship between people and the gods is like a mirror on humanity that reflects the self-centered desires of modern society. In the end, we are left to ask: Can a glance from the eyes of the gods penetrate human nature? Are their supernatural powers strong enough to reach the heavens?