THE FIRST TIME I SAW
SEPTIME WEBRE 衛承天
Hong Kong Ballet artistic director SEPTIME WEBRE on Paris’ Louvre
啟迪
香港芭蕾舞團藝術總監衛承天回憶對巴黎羅浮宮的印象
I FIRST VISITED Paris in the 1990s, a few years after the Louvre’s renovation was finished. It had always loomed large in my memory.
As a kid who loved architectural history, I knew all about Ephesus, the Parthenon, the Louvre. I grew up in the Bahamas until I was 12, and my brothers and I would spend days building landmarks out of sand and seaweed. We fought over who got the Louvre, the Versailles Orangerie conservatory, the Tuileries.
Later, when I was a student in Texas, I read about IM Pei’s controversial pyramid, with critics arguing that it was too jarring and modernist for the historic Louvre. In theory, I erred on the side of the conservatives.
But seeing the Louvre juxtaposed with the glass pyramid in person, there’s an ‘aha!’ moment as you realise something old can be new again.
It’s an amazing metaphor for how inherited culture can be married to modern life – how we can live in a modern city, but have experiences informed by the past. It inspires us to think again.
As a ballet artist, my language is dance. Classical ballet is an intrinsically conservative art form. It communicates beauty and form and harmony, but the language is fluid and pliable.
The art has roots in the past, but it can characterise modern life with forward-thinking composers. When I think about the Louvre pyramid, it reminds me that I can connect with the modern world through ballet. 我於1990年代首次前往巴黎，當時羅浮宮剛完成翻新工程幾年。在我記憶中這是一座巍然聳立的建築。
我自小喜愛建築史，對希臘古城以弗所、巴特農神殿與羅浮宮早有認識。我在巴哈馬長大，直到12歲才離開。小時我與兄弟們用沙和海草，建造出一座又一座極具代表性的建築。我們會爭相搶著要建羅浮宮、凡爾賽宮的橘園或是杜樂麗花園。
後來，我在美國德州讀書時，讀到有關建築師貝聿銘設計的金字塔所引起的種種爭議。評論人認為，玻璃金字塔的現代主義風格與歷史悠久的羅浮宮格格不入。理論上，我是站在保守派的一邊。
可是當我親眼見到羅浮宮與玻璃金字塔並列在一起時，心中卻又頓時豁然開朗，明白古老的事物也可以再次變得充滿新鮮感。
昔日承傳下來的文化，原來可以與現代生活成為絕配，這實在是個了不起的示範。我們可以活於一個現代的都市中，卻體驗到先人的遺澤。這座建築令我們對新與舊重新思考。
我是個芭蕾舞藝術家，舞蹈就是我的語言。古典芭蕾舞的本質就是一種保守的藝術形式，旨在表現美感、形態與和諧，但其語言卻是靈活多變的。
芭蕾舞雖然是過去的產物，但高瞻遠矚的編舞家可以令這種藝術形式將現代生活的面貌呈現出來。每當我想起羅浮宮外的金字塔時，它提醒我可以藉著芭蕾舞與現代世界產生聯繫。
衛承天是香港芭蕾舞團的藝術總監。香港芭蕾舞團於12月在香港文化中心演出《胡桃夾子》。hkballet.com
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