Lin Yuan Shang : the body's light revealed to children
Orianne Charpentier - Le Monde / Aden (23 April 2003)

"It is not a matter of doing, but of being"

Through dance, choreographer Lin Yuan Shang takes children (and grown-ups !) towards a philosophical research. "What matters to me is the spark, he says : the instant when the light appears - this small second that is always on my mind. The spark, confronted with eternity, permanence, that is the idea of being in the moment - of being alive, actually."

He speaks quickly, with fluidity ; stops to find his words and starts again, with an energy which is just like his dance. Lin Yuan Shang is a choreographer. He addresses this creation, performed by two dancers - an European and an Asiatic -, to young audiences. Maybe because it deals with themes linked with childhood : relation to the other, conflict, difference… And maybe not : as for him, explaining everything does not make any sense. "The important thing is not to understand, but to feel. I am not afraid that children might not understand : they have more freedom and imagination, they step over barriers", he says. And he adds : "there has to be a flow between people and culture. But is it necessary to give a meaning to this flow, instead of letting people choose by themselves ?" However, at the end of a public rehearsal, he asks children :"According to you, when the dancers try to put an egg on a staff, what does it mean ? Try and imagine." And after a moment of whispering and silence, he says : "often, we are harsh and rigid like the staff, whereas, at bottom, our heart is just as soft as this egg. It symbolizes humanity."