Sutra

Contemporary dance and ancient martial arts combine in this award-winning collaboration between Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, sculptor Antony Gormley, composer Szymon Brzóska, and 20 Buddhist monks from the Shaolin Temple in China’s Henan Province.

Sutra explores the Shaolin kung fu tradition in the context of contemporary culture, inviting a cadre of modern-day practitioners to lend their skills—the flying kicks, backflips, and shadow-boxing practiced as part of their spiritual discipline—to a humorous fable about a European outsider learning about their monastery. With clever set design by Gormley and a chamber music score by Brzóska performed live, the production has earned rave reviews across the globe.

“A brave, thrilling, elliptical piece…[an] odyssey into the mind of a Zen Buddhist” (The Telegraph, UK).