After a smashing success at the Sydney Olympics, the Cloud Gate Dance Theater (雲門舞集) is bringing its highly praised Moon Water show back to Taiwan for local audiences. And a recent visit to the troupe's base in Kuantu, Taipei County, proves that the dancers have been hard at work on the highly anticipated performances that will begin in Taipei today.
Inside the warehouse-like building where the dancers practice, the music of Bach's Suites for Solo Cello play in the background. Lin Hwai-min (林懷民), the founder of Cloud Gate and key figure in Taiwan's modern dance movement, directed his dancers through the slow movements that resemble those of taichi boxing.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF CLOUD GATE
"No one is a born dancer," Lin said. "It takes a tremendous amount of hard work and persistence to be able to move like a premier dancer." The dancers are aware, from hard experience, of Lin's high standards.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF CLOUD GATE
One of the dancers, Sheu Fang-yi (許芳宜), was a principle dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company before joining Cloud Gate, and she, along with others in the company, are among the elite of Taiwan's dancers.
Speaking of Moon Water, Sheu thought it very different from pieces she has performed in New York. "You have to slow down, step by step, and be very calm ... it's like meditation. It's quite different from attitudes in fast-paced New York."
Moon Water is a poetic piece that Lin choreographed based on taichi movements developed by the troupe's taichi instructor Hsiung Wei (熊衛).
The dancers all wear the same costumes of flowing white silk slacks. The music is taken from Bach's Suites for Solo Cello. There are no extravagant props but the use of a mirror above and water on the stage creates dazzling effects. Such innovative stage techniques have contributed the piece's enormous success since it premiered in 1989.
The name Moon Water is drawn from a common literary expression: "like flowers in the mirror or the moon on the water," which is a metaphor for the transience and emptiness of life.
Moon Water will be followed on Nov. 30 by a very different piece from the group's repertoire -- the politically and historically laden Portrait of Families, a work very close to Lin's heart. "If there is one piece I hope that will last forever, then it must be Portrait of the Families," said Lin.
Portrait, which premiered in 1997, is an elegy to the people who died or were killed in the course of Taiwan's tumultuous and often violent history. It recalls the cultural oppression of the Japanese colonial period and the early years of KMT rule, and the long struggle of Taiwanese to preserve their cultural identity. More than 1,000 old photos are projected on stage as backdrop to the dance piece. A taped voice tells the stories behind the pictures.
Lin insists, however, that this piece is about more than just Taiwan's own experience. "I want to speak of the landscape of the human heart," Lin says.
Then, on Dec. 13, Cloud Gate moves to Taichung to perfrom one of its best-known works, Nine Songs, which is based on ancient folk rituals. The rituals deal with life, love, nature and death, universal themes that have proven popular with international audiences. Lin draws on legends from the Nine Songs, an ancient set of Chinese poems, with music taken from Taiwan's own musical tradition, as well as that of other Asian cultures.
The three pieces, which have all stood the test of time, are a showcase of the artistic achievement that has elevated Cloud Gate to prominence on the international dance circuit.
Performance Notes
WHO Cloud Gate Dance Theater(雲門舞集回家演出)
WHAT Moon Water (水月)
WHEN Nov. 23 to 25
WHERE National Theater, Taipei (台北市立國家戲劇院)
TICKETS Only available for Nov. 25, 2:30pm; NT$400 - NT$1500
WHAT Portrait of the Families (家族合唱)
WHEN Nov. 30 - Dec. 2, 19:45 pm; 2:45pm, Dec. 3
WHERE National Theater, Taipei (台北市立國家戲劇院)
TICKETS NT$800 -- NT$1500
WHAT Nine Songs (九歌)
WHEN Dec. 13-14, 7:30pm
WHERE Taichung City Cultural Center (台中市立文化中心中山堂); Dec 16-17, 7:30pm (also 2:30 pm on Dec. 17) Kaohsiung City Cultural Center (高雄市立中正文化中心至德堂)
TICKETS NT$400 - NT$1500
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby