The Seven Boards of Skill

The Seven Boards of Skill by Aurélien Bory was an incredible piece of performance that weaved seamlessly of Western Geometry with Eastern ancient game of “qi qiao ban” which also known as the Tangram. He stroked a perfect balance in presenting this ancient wisdom as it did in the performance with the seven varied shapes of blocks. Audiences witnessed a journey seeing how human wisely maneuvered the blocks to develop sceneries from mountains to high-rise buildings landscape. The minimalistic direction had illustrated the intricate contrast between human and the huge block; presenting a delicate relationship between human and nature in which the former activated the change and yet not knowing what would really become until every block found its equilibrium as in the case of our ever changing mother nature. Interestingly enough, what the audience saw on stage were all parts of Geometry which mean the seemingly unknown “evolution” triggered by “humans” was actually predictable by Mathematic calculation!

Bory presented the very essences of the Tangram, which are the infinite combinations of forms and shapes and the importance of striking a balance to everything. By using actors from Dailan’s School of Opera and the music of “erwu”, he created not only stylistic movement of Chinese Culture but also the necessary association of the Chinese interpretation of nature by “Yin” & “Yang”. This gracefully embraced the fact that no matter how intellectual human is, the principle of balance still dictates the world we live in.