Moving to a bigger universe

The last time the Taipei Times met up with A Moving Sound's duet Mia Hsieh (謝韻雅) and Scott Prairie, they were releasing their CD, Little Universe, on Taiwan Colors Music. That was December, and in the few months since, their universe has grown.

Now the pair has teamed up with several other artists and performers for Before the Light, a "live musical mysterious journey with dance, circus and magic."

To clarify, there are actually two Moving Sounds: One is a music group, the other is a musical theater group. Hsieh and Prairie, who are partners creatively and in life, are at the core of both. Prairie plays the French horn and bass and Hsieh adds a new dimension with her vocals, often singing in an improvised language.

With the theatricality inherent in their music and concerts, A Moving Sound's evolution to music theater was inevitable. For Before the Light they've teamed with choreographer Chen Yi-jin (陳怡靜), costume designer Chu Chio-yi (徐秋宜) and several dancers and performers, including a graduate of a Swedish circus school who juggles a crystal ball, and a French student of Chinese opera who dangles from the ceiling on a silk rope.

Jun Shimuzu joins in on the didgereedoo and doumbek, Pierre Lo (羅堂軒) on erhu and the Tibetan singing bowl, and Alex Wu (吳政君) on the frame drum and flute.

"The inspiration for this production is the same one that caused Mia and I to create A Moving Sound," Prairie said. "[The] piece is trying to tell the deep story of what both Mia and I believe deeply in our hearts -- that the most amazing creative project we will ever work on is our own life."

Before the Light looks at the ancient myths of a diversity of cultures, deals in a hand of tarot cards and mixes philosophy with circus performance, "all richly woven together to describe the odyssey of our human travel through this life."

Tarot cards are central to the plot, with different cards providing the inspiration for each of the show's five choreographed pieces. Chen choreographed the first, "Wheel of Life," and Hsieh choreographed the remaining four.

The goal of tarot, she said, isn't to tell the future. Rather, "the goal is the process of being."

And the darkness alluded to in the show's title "is the preparation before the next creative step."

Joseph Campbell was another inspiration for Before the Light, because, Hsieh said, "the myths he was talking about aren't just about ancient times, but about how modern people can learn from them."

"People think I'm Aboriginal. They think I'm from some ancient place," Hsieh said. "So I looked at this performance upside down, from an ancient perspective instead of a modern one."

Hsieh used the Sun and Moon tarot cards to explore the Chinese concept of yin and yang. The Lovers card plays into the plotline, as does Desire and Passion. The last scene, Hsieh said, is drawn from the Fool and Magician cards and is called "The Magic Moment."

"Those cards are the purest energy forces in the deck," Hsieh said. "`The Magic Moment' isn't about a trick. It's about a new understanding."

Performance note:

What: Before the Light

When and where: Tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm and tomorrow afternoon at 2:30pm at the Red Theater (紅樓劇) in Ximending at 10 Chengdu Rd, Taipei (場 北市成都路10號). March 19 at 7:30pm and March 20 at 2:30pm at Tainan's branch of the Eslite Bookstore (台南誠品書店) at B2, 181 Chang-rong Rd, Sec 1, East Dist, Tainan (台南市東區長榮路一段181號B2).