In October 2018, the 15th Guangdong Modern Dance Week announced the program list on social media platforms, and the opening work was held in the name of French choreographer Maggie Mahan and her work "May B".
Maggie Mahan's "May B" appeared in front of domestic audiences in such a sudden way that some theater art critics and practitioners did not expect it. It is also unimaginable that this work, which has an important position in the European dance art world and is enough to be written into the history of Modern Dance in the West, was first on the domestic stage after 37 years of creation and publication.
How important is May B in the history of Western modern dance? In a sense, it is classic. In 1974, German choreographer Pina Bausch published her signature dance Café Müller, which single-handedly revitalized the "Dance Theatre", an artistic style originating from the 1920s, in Europe. To this day, the concept of "dance theater" is almost synonymous with Pina's name. However, as early as 1981, the "Dance Theater" had already welcomed another important artist besides Pina, that is, Maggie Mahan.
"May B" has been highly recognized by European dance critics since its release, which has made Mahan a representative of the "New French Dance" wave and the standard-bearer of the "Dance Theatre" in France, which has established her important position in the Western modern dance world since the 1980s. Since then, May B has embarked on more than three decades of touring, and in the eyes of scholars and dance lovers around the world, May B has become a convincing contemporary classic.
In another sense, it is avant-garde. In the 1970s and 1980s, Mahan's "May B" shocked the appreciation concepts of audiences and critics at the time from all aspects, and with a subversive creation, it loudly announced to the art world that absurdist literature could not only be rehearsed into dramas, filmed into movies, but also arranged as dances.
While we were overjoyed to see the famous "May B", judging from the creative timeline, it was actually a lot late. However, this work that shocked the European dance scene more than thirty years ago is still an avant-garde existence for today's Chinese dance community, it can still easily stand out from the domestic dance program list throughout the year, and it can still have a heuristic impact on today's Chinese dance art world, and even more profound reflection.
However, there are also fly in the ointment of reality, "May B" came to China this time, should have toured more cities, and received greater response, but only acted in Guangzhou overnight and then left in a hurry. It is undoubtedly one of the most important works on the domestic dance program list in 2018, but at the same time, its rush to come and go has become the most regrettable thing.