踏风飞行
Shaman on Great Wall of Qi
Category: Performance Art/Workshop
Artist: Tan Tan
Performers: Tan Tan and the Audience
Videography: Cui Chi
Photography: Wang Qingbin
Time: October 5, 2019, 15:00-17:00
Location: Beacon Tower of the Great Wall in Zhangqiu, Shandong
Performed at the First Qi Great Wall Art Festival in 2019
This is not only a workshop exploring shamanic rituals but also a small theater that establishes connections between individuals, humans and nature, and humans and history.
Every stone carries messages from thousands of years.
Every mountain breeze serves as a spacecraft to ride us through the universe.
A collective physical journey
Participatory Performance
The performance starts from the center of Shizikou Village in Zhangqiu, Jinan.
In the bustling market of the village, a long rope gathers more than twenty participants/audience members—these include young people who specifically came to see the theater festival, both local and international artists performing at the festival, and native villagers.
Bells are attached to the rope every meter, and each participant must hold a bell as they walk up the mountain one by one.
A collective consciousness journey
Shanmanic Workshop
After a challenging journey of about an hour, not a single person has let go of the long rope.
When everyone finally reaches the mountaintop, they find themselves on the ancient beacon tower that has stood for two and a half millennia.
Tan Tan instructs everyone to blindfold themselves, lie down on the stone ground, and begin using the shamanic drumbeat to guide them into an unpredictable journey—a collective venture into an extraordinary realm of consciousness.
Communication and Improvisation
After the 15-minute spiritual journey, participants and Tan Tan engaged in a discussion about the various meditation images they experienced during the drumming. Some individuals found it challenging to detach from their emotions for an extended period.
Following that was an improvised music session, with Tan Tan and two musicians creating spontaneous harmony. Some individuals freely danced to the music.
In the end, as the sun set, everyone once again held the long rope, silently connected by a thread of destiny.
