“When working with the dancers, I invite them to do two things:
To move very slowly, almost like morning fog canvassing over a marshland,
and to listen to the rice with their heart by not ‘thinking, planning’ their next move.
The rice will guide them through the dance.”
Lee Mingwei
Lee Mingwei’s
“Our Labyrinth”
Our Labyrinth originates from observations that Lee Mingwei made in pagodas, temples and mosques in Myanmar. In all of these spaces, he saw the care with which volunteers swept the paths, preparing them for barefoot visitors. Lee combines the humility of sweeping with the image of the labyrinth, which is found in all manner of spiritual traditions. The labyrinth is walked as a meditation in movement. Inspired by this tradition, Our Labyrinth is conceived as a ritual dance. The performers come from diverse movement traditions including yoga, ballet and contemporary dance. On an inkblot-shaped dance floor, the performer sweeps a pile of rice with a broom. Patterns are fleetingly created before being swept together again. The dancer wears a sarong, a white shirt and ankle bells that chime with their movements. When one dancer has finished, they hand over the broom and the space to the next performer. This choreographic meditation takes place three times a day.
Video: The artist talking about this work in an exhibition at Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2017.
