One of Korea’s renowned dancers Sincha Hong performed at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, recently. The dance and music drama Four Walls was produced by Sincha, also the founder of the Laughing Stone Dance Theater Company, in collaboration with the world-famous composer John Cage, who is said to have been a good friend of hers.
It is said that Cage had worked on this composition when he was considering a serious move from composing music, in the 1940s. The piece, with long inconsistent pauses in musical notes and a melancholic base, is a reflection of his disturbed mind then.
The composition is mostly solo piano, played in the diatonic scale (white keys only). Minimal dreamy movements by Sincha were accompanied by piano notes by Japanese musician Masami Tada, adding a meditative effect to the sequence.
The slow-paced performance might have been a dampener for a few initially, but all they had to do was wait for a few minutes before the sequences made sense. Sincha, dressed in flowy white maxi, turned the stage into a torturous cell that conveyed emotions of solitude and dissatisfaction. With lights just enough to illuminate her captivating expressions, she took the audience along with her to a world that denied freedom and happiness.
Left to one’s own interpretation, the show ended with her lying on a bed of flowers. Colourful petals showered on top of her like shooting stars. Was she able to break the walls? Did she find her freedom? — While these questions remained as residues, Sincha bowed before the audience and left.
Four Walls was first performed by dancer Merce Cunningham in 1944. Sincha is said to have later collaborated with Cage, and come out with her version in 1984, for the John Cage Festival in New York. For the next 28 years, the dance saw no stage, before it was revived in 2012 to celebrate Cage’s 100th birth anniversary.