"Cloud Gate 2 is a dance company that reaches out. Our audience isn't familiar with dance," she said. "So I try to choose music that the audience might like, that they might find easier to digest."
For her piece, the 35-minute long All About Love, Lo selected an eclectic mix of opera arias and Brazilian folksongs as well as music from the soundtracks of the movies Chocolat and The Man Who Cried.
"It's very intimate," she said. "Fang-yi has beautiful solos, because the piece was made for her."
"There are several duets about love -- very playful -- about young people in love," Lo said.
Bulang's 45-minute piece, Foreseen, is dramatically different. Set to music from the soundrack of Dracula and two pieces by Polish composer Wojciech Kilar, Lo describes Foreseen as "very mysterious."
"The emotions are suppressed -- the dancers just have to keep dancing. It's very fast, very exhausting," she said, adding, "The male duet is just gorgeous."
Because Bulang's an emerging choreographer, "I didn't want to give him any limits," Lo said.
"He asked for a really big set. It's minimal, but huge," she said, describing the set as a white floor and backdrop with three circular walls that can move and turn.
"Bulang's piece is strikingly beautiful. It's got a big set, the lighting is surreal, very visual. It's another world," she said.
Lo said reviews for the tour have been good and critics have noted how much Bulang has developed as a choreographer.
"He has really developed his own style," she said.
Bulang is another alumnus of both TNUA and the Cloud Gate Dance Theater. But even before he graduated from TNUA in 1996, he was already being marked out for big things, since he was the first undergraduate to hold a solo concert outside of the university. His piece Flesh was presented at the 2nd Asian Young Choreographer's Workshop in 1996 and at the Hong Kong International Dance Festival in 1998.
He worked as a guest choreographer for Cloud Gate 2 since 2000, before being named resident choreographer last year.
Lo is pleased with how far the company has come in just six years, and Bulang's work has been a big factor.
"Our pieces are getting better," she said. "Starting last year -- both the pieces and the dancers are moving up. I can see the growth, especially this year."
Through its performances, workshops, lecture-demonstrations and campus residences, Cloud Gate 2 is helping develop both dancers and an appreciation for dance among the younger generation and those outside the big cities. Lin's ambitions for the troupe appear to be paying off.
Cloud Gate 2 may be a "junior" company, but its performances have become don't-miss events for dance fans and novices alike. And like its older sibling, the company's performances in Taipei are beginning to sell out in advance.
"Ticket sales have been extremely good, with Friday and Saturday nights almost sold out," Lo said happily. "So tell people they should come on Sunday."
What: Cloud Gate 2
Where: The Novel Nall
When: Tonight, tomorrow and Sunday at 7:45pm; tomorrow and Sunday at 2:45pm
Tickets: NT$400, 600, 900, 1,200, available at the hall or from the CKS Cultural Center's booking office
RSS