Much has been made of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s (雲門舞集) rebuilding efforts after a fire almost totally destroyed its studio and storage facility in February 2008. However, in the case of the new production of Nine Songs (九歌), which opens at the National Theater on Sept. 13, it is really a phoenix arising from the ashes.
Just about the only props not consumed by the blaze were the mask from the “God of the Clouds” segment and those of other divinities in Nine Songs, which premiered in 1993 to mark the company’s 20th anniversary. Which is ironic, because just two months before the fire the company had danced what founder and artistic director Lin Hwai-min (林懷民) said at the time would be the final performances of the production, as it was being taken out of the repertoire.
In an interview earlier this month, Lin was asked why he decided to resurrect the piece, especially since it meant having to rebuild and recreate so much — the costumes, the props, the set, even the soundtrack.
Credit: Yu Hui-hung
“The masks survived. One has to respect that. Spirits are linked to masks … We had to make them alive again. That’s why we did it,” he said
“I’m happy,” Lin said about the new production and set. “It’s the most operatic.”
The set is indeed striking. Designed by acclaimed US theater designer Ming Cho Lee (李名覺), the eye is caught by the moveable panels that are an enlarged detail from Lin Yu-san’s (林玉山) golden Lotus Pond (蓮池) painting. The panels fill the back and sides of the stage, while a lotus pond blooms in front. Lee won a 1995 Bessie award — the New York City dance and performance awards — for his work on the show.
Credit: Yu Hui-hung
This time around Lin has added something special by using real lotus flowers in the lotus pond.
“We contracted a farmer to grow them for the company. I’m so happy we did it. The minute you step into the theater you can smell them. Audiences [in Hong Kong and Macau earlier this month] wanted to touch them and take pictures,” he said. “Lotuses are very sensitive, they start dying when removed from water. You can see them fade during the performance.”
The fleeting beauty of the lotuses can be seen as a metaphor for the transitory nature of a day or a season — or a dance. Nine Songs, inspired by Qu Yuang’s (屈原) 2,400-year-old poems, is a two-hour journey through life, death and redemption. It reflects the cycle of nature, as do the poems, with the first half of the show following the day — Greeting the God, Homage to the Sun God, Homage to the Gods of Fate — and the second half, the seasons of the year with Homage to the Goddess of the Xiang River, Homage to the God of the Clouds, Homage to the Mountain Spirit and Homage to the Fallen.
In that last segment, Lin makes a sharp departure from culture and nature to recent Taiwanese and Chinese history, with a tribute to those executed during the Japanese colonial era in Taiwan and the 228 Incident as well as the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing. Names of the fallen are read out in Mandarin, Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), Atayal and Hakka.
However, that sharp juxtaposition makes the final segment — Honoring the Dead — more stunning, both visually and emotionally, as the dancers silently build a river of flickering candles that stretches out to eternity.
The show is taxing on the dancers, 80 percent of whom are new to the piece, so most of the lead roles have been double cast, Lin said.
However, he wasn’t worried about the young dancers ability to cope with the demands of the show.
“The Cloud Gate body is much more sophisticated than before,” he said.
With plans to take the show to Moscow next year and London in 2014, it doesn’t seem like Lin is ready to see the production leave the repertoire anytime soon.
“Now I think it should be revived. I used to think it was too heavy. I was right, but it carries an interpretation of Qu Yuang’s poetry. It carries Aboriginal music, Javanese gamelan — a rich cultural heritage,” Lin said. “The opening and closing: I treasure the music.”
Before the nine-show National Theater run, the company will perform Nine Songs in Greater Tainan next weekend, on Sept 7 and Sept. 8. Afterwards, the company will visit Chiayi, Greater Taichung, Greater Kaohsiung, Hualien, Taoyuan County and Miaoli County.
However, Cloud Gate’s Nine Songs is only the first production in the National Theater Concert Hall’s 2012 Dancing into Autumn series (2012舞蹈秋天), which features a striking line-up of five big and small troupes.
Sept. 27 to Sept. 30 will see Huang Yi (黃翊) and Hu Chien (胡鑑) team up for Double Yellow Lines (雙黃線) in the Experimental Theater, while October will see French choreographer Christian Rizzo return to Taipei with from Oct. 4 to Oct. 7 b.c, janvier 1545, Fontainbleau and Taiwan’s own YiLab (一當代舞團) will perform Off the Map (身體輿圖) from Oct. 19 to Oct. 21, both in the Experimental Theater. The series will close out in the National Theater with the Fondazione Nazionale della Danza Aterballetto from Italy with Les Noces & Rossini Cards from Nov. 23 to Nov. 25.
ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES
■ Sept. 7 and Sept. 8 at 7:30pm, Tainan Municipal Cultural Center Performance Hall (臺南市立臺南文化中心演藝廳), 332 Chunghua E Rd Sec 3, Tainan City (中華東路3段332號);
■ Sept. 28 and Sept. 29 at 7:30pm at Chiayi Performing Arts Center (嘉義縣表演藝術中心演藝廳), 265, Jianguo Rd Sec 2, Minsyong Township, Chiayi County (嘉義縣民雄鄉建國路二段265號);
■ Oct. 5 and Oct. 6 at 7:30pm at at Chungshan Hall (台中市文化局中山堂), 98 Syueshih Rd, Greater Taichung (台中市學士路98號);
■ Oct. 12 and Oct. 13 at 7:30pm, Oct. 14 at 2:30pm at Kaohsiung Cultural Center’s Chih-teh Hall (高雄市文化中心至德堂) at 67 Wufu 1st Rd, Greater Kaohsiung (高雄市五福一路67號);
■ Nov. 10 at 7:30pm and Nov. 11 at 2:30pm at the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Hualien County (花蓮縣文化局演藝廳), 6 Wenfu Rd, Hualien City (花蓮市文復路6號); Nov. 16 and Nov. 17 at 7:30pm at Taoyuan County Performing Arts Center (桃園縣展演中心), 1188 Jhongjheng Rd, Taoyuan City (桃園市中正路1188號). and Dec. 1 at 2:30pm at Northern Miaoli Art Center (苗北藝文中心演藝廳), 206 Gongyuan Rd, Jhunan Township, Miaoli County (苗栗縣竹南鎮公園路206號)
■ Tickets range from NT$300 to NT$1,800; available online at www.artsticket.com.tw
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
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
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
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