A combination martial arts, jazz-ballet performance retells a story that ‘has been repeated throughout every century.’
By Cathy Neiman/Staff Writer
The lights dim, the audience becomes silent. A spotlight beams on a dapperly dressed Chinese man kneeling on the floor. He lets out a piercing intonation, somewhere between a high operatic octave and a yodel that seems to last for an unnaturally long time. Not a sound can be heard from the audience, they are entranced. This is “Voice of the Dragon.” And this is just the beginning.
The one-night only, 70-minute show Friday evening at Pepperdine’s Smothers Theatre was a sell-out. The theater was packed mostly with families on account of the pre-show demonstration of Joey Escobar’s Karate students. At the end of the demonstration, Ginger Bonnette, co-owner of the Joey Escobar Karate studio in Malibu, and owner Joey Escobar, did the final karate demonstration.
“Voice of the Dragon” was originally featured at the 2001 BAM Next Wave Festival in New York; the performance is almost indescribable; it is an incredible visionary piece of work. Fred Ho, a writer, composer and jazz musician, wrote the music for this stunning explosive acrobatic jazz-ballet, martial arts fable.
Ho, a baritone saxophonist (who also led and played the sax in the musical ensemble of “Voice”), and an activist and retired hand-to-hand combat specialist trained in stealth assault techniques, managed to successfully fuse the different cultures and movements involved this piece. Ho blends Afro-American, Asian and American Pop with a touch of blues, while adding a discordant beat. It is anti-music that is absolutely rhythmical.
The story, set in 1600 AD China during the early Ching Dynasty, is a tale of betrayal, bitterness, honor tradition and treachery, with hip, modern humor wedged in between for comic relief.
The tale opens with a female baby left on the steps of the ancient Shaolin Temple, who is raised by Monks and is taught the mystical martial art forms of the ancient Shaolin teachings. The baby, who grows up to be Gar Man, an expert black belt, becomes disillusioned by the traditional Shaolin teachings and turns her back on the elders who have raised her. She betrays her elders with a sly member of the Imperial Court, and the two steal the temple’s Secret Scrolls. She turns into a fighting beast and the five disciples who taught her everything now must kill her. All the while, a Chinese man, dressed in a long trench coat and a fedora in contrast to the costumes of the ancient tale, narrates, dances and performs jazz-infused martial arts along with the cast.
In a 2001 New York Times article, Ho was quoted about the type of artists he used in his productions.
“I used trained, martial artists, who exist outside performing arts-mostly people from inner-city backgrounds who grew up watching Kung-Fu movies on TV.”
Ho himself grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts during the height of the black liberation movement where he became involved in radical politics and music. Yet, Ho didn’t limit himself with only politics and music, he did a tour in the Marines and studied sociology at Harvard.
Besides the extraordinarily talented cast, and the musical genius of Ho’s Afro Asian Music Ensemble and Ho himself, the story itself has a very powerful historical message.
The narrator closed the show with these words of wisdom: “This is a story of loyalty and betrayal. It has been repeated throughout every century. As long as there is ambition without the honor and repeat of tradition, this story will continue to be told.”