Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s (雲門舞集) performance of Moon Water at the National Theater last Monday night with Russian cellist Mischa Maisky can be summed up in just one word: sublime.
It was a fascinating show, even for those who had seen Moon Water many times before, because Maisky’s playing took the whole production to a higher level. I know that the dancers were apprehensive because they had never performed the piece to live music before and had only had a brief run-through on Sunday evening with him. But it wasn’t a case of Maisky accompanying the dancers; he and the dancers became one. He obviously enjoyed playing for and watching the dancers, just as they clearly delighted in having him on stage.
Moon Water calls for incredible fluidity on the part of the dancers and the dancers appeared to be water themselves, bending, curving and twisting their bodies so easily it was hard to believe they were human. One can only hope that the company’s two performances last week with Maisky will not be the last.
On Saturday afternoon, the five-man Horse Dance Theater (驫舞劇場) delivered a never-less-than-interesting but uneven performance of Bones before a packed house in the Experimental Theater.
The five men who make up Horse have very different personalities as well as dancing and choreographic styles. This means there is no single style, no single voice, which can be a plus in terms of creativity; the downside is that democracy is a difficult ideal to achieve in a company.
As in previous Horse productions, the solos and duets were wonderful, especially Chou Shu-yi’s (周書毅) solo to the what sounded like crackling sounds of ice breaking up on a river. Chou is a beautiful dancer who always leaves you wanting to see more of him. The harpsichord music for Cheng Tsung-lung’s (鄭宗龍) solo provided the perfect counterpoint to his very cerebral, architectural-style of dance. You can almost measure the exact degree of each hand movement, each angle of a leg or arm. Cheng’s earlier duet with Yang Yu-min (楊育鳴) was another highlight.
As an all-male troupe, Horse has a unique dynamic, but there has always been an element of slapstick, which in Bones ranges from trading slaps and a “bone-naming game” to a well executed “puppet master” showdown between Yang, on Cheng’s shoulders, and Chen Wu-kang (陳武康) perched atop Su Wei-chia (蘇威嘉).
With a blazingly all-white set, great lighting and a subtle though incredibly varied sound score from Frenchman Yannick Dauby, the focus in Bones was solely on the dancers. This was a plus in that neither the dancers nor the audience was distracted by props. But it also make it clear that Bones is a production that is still evolving. Small companies like Horse, however, can’t afford long runs of any one show. It’s a pity because Bones has great potential and a few more performances would give Horse the time to refine the production.
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