This weekend Focus Dance Company (
The performance started with Taiwan's leading choreographer Lin Huai-min's (
Moving to the softly sensuous sounds of Bach's cello suites, the dancers dazzled like light on rippling water. Their seamless coordination of the tai chi and modern elements, of individual and collective movement created a humble yet almost sensuously angelic beauty.
PHOTO COURTESY OF FOCUS DANCE COMPANY
That grace was carried even into the final bow as the dancers faced the audience, eyes lowered, with their right hands hovering above their hearts.
Tian Jing Sha (
The tai chi in this dance, as contrasted with Moon Water, was strong and defiant -- almost military.
The barely contained intensity of movement works with the heartbeat-like drums of U Theater and the blood-red costumes to convey a feeling of pride and longing.
First performed at World Culture Open 2004 in South Korea, Tian Jing Sha must surely have shown audiences there the love these students have for their homeland.
Providing a nice contrast to these complicated pieces were the simpler two-person narrative dances. A cute rendition of Taiwanese author-illustrator Jimmy's (
Shape, another two-person piece, told quite a different story. With one baggy T-shirt, two wooden chairs, and their hair draped over their faces, two female dancers created a creepy scene of the inside of one person's tortured mind.
Finally, the most mesmerizing and intricate dance of the performance, the abstract Set and Reset/Reset, brought the entire company out on stage for something completely different.
The seemingly complicated and chaotic nature of this dance gave way to simplicity and order. Composed through a process of improvisation, the unusual choreography allowed the audience to forget expectations of what a dance should look like and simply follow the dancers' movements.
They walked on and off the stage, sunk into the ground, fell into each other and went in all directions at once. It was movement for the sake of movement and very interesting to watch.
Focus Dance Company takes their show on the road starting Wednesday with performance in Hsinchu. For a detailed list of times and venues, check http://focus.tnua.edu.tw.
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