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newyorker:

For this week’s Going On About Town opener, Gus Powell photographed the show Sutra, which was part of the White Light Festival at Lincoln Center. Choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and performed by Cherkaoui and seventeen Shaolin monks, with sparse set design by Antony Gormley, the piece was inspired by Cherkaoui’s time at the Shaolin Temple in China.

“I was told before I got started with the monks that although what they are doing in Sutra might have something in common with dance, they are not like dancers,” Powell says. “They don’t do physical work for hours on end and are actually only allowed to do one performance a day. I was also told to keep in mind that they are a group of excited young men. This little clip from the warmup period before the performance captures both of these qualities.”

Watch the monks in action.