I caught up with Cloud Gate 2 (雲門 2) at Chih-Teh Hall (高雄市文化中心至德堂) in Kaohsiung on Saturday night, their first appearance in that city in three years. That prolonged absence may have explained the less-than packed hall for their Spring Riot 2010 show, which is too bad because the company delivered the kind of high-energy performance its fans have come to expect.
The evening began with Ku Ming-shen’s (古名伸) Endless Shore (碎浪海岸), inspired by the interaction of the ocean and the shore along the southeast coast. The ebb and flow of the tide was replicated by the dancers running and sliding onto the stage floor, the crashing of the waves upon rocks by the lifts that cartwheeled the women (and sometimes a man) up and over their partner’s shoulders — and the tidal pools, it appeared, by moments of when the dancer stood, circled, in absolute stillness.
The 14 dancers frequently hurled across the stage, with the outstretched hands of another catching their head, or arm or ankle with flawless timing. There were lots and lots of lifts, and a particularly fast-pace segment was echoed in the finale, but at a slower pace.
With just a short few minutes for a costume change, the entire company was back for Huang Yi’s (黃翊) Floating Domain (浮動的房間), set to set to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto in D Minor. It proved to be the highlight of the evening, with a sophisticated wit that belies the 26-year-old Huang’s youth.
It began slowly, with the dancers moving almost in a fugue-state as a solitary light bulb, which had been lowered almost to the floor, began to rise. One group formed a three-sided room, each member responding to the touch of the inhabitant’s hand on an arm, a shoulder, a leg, raising each limb and dropping in turn, the pace gradually picking up as the woman careened off the walls. The dancers frequently formed a Rockette-like line on the diagonal before breaking apart.
The highlight of Floating Domain were the two duets, the first by Yang Ling-kai (楊淩凱) and Wang Yeu-Kwn (王宇光) and the second, which finished the piece, by Wu Jui-ying (吳睿穎) and Hou Yi-ling (侯怡伶).
Floating Domain was filled with quirky little one-offs, not the least of which was the old-fashioned black telephone and line that sat almost stage center for the entire piece. The dancers danced over and around it up until the very end — when Hou picked up the receiver, placed it on the floor for about five seconds and then replaced it — at that was it.
Yang is the troupe’s veteran and its prima dancer and she showed the full scope of her talents both in Huang’s piece and then in Cheng Tsung-lung’s (鄭宗龍) Crack (裂), which closed the program. She is at her peak and in both pieces was just a whirlwind of energy. Wang did a masterful job of keeping pace with her in Huang’s work.
Crack was a strange piece, with the nine dancers clad in black-upon-black costumes reminding me of a cross between something Tim Burton would like to use for his gothic movies and ninjas (minus the face masks). I don’t know why ninjas kept coming to mind during the piece, which centered on isolationist-style movements made popular by break-dancers years ago, but they did.
The curtain opened on a man doing a headstand and ended with Hou spinning and spinning. As much as I like have liked Cheng’s other works, Crack proved as empty as the splits in the pavements or the factures in relationships it was meant to represent.
Though uneven, Spring Riot 2010 was well-worth seeing, with one caveat — the sound levels for much of Ku and Cheng’s works, both of which had long portions of industrial-tech soundscapes. The volume often reached painful proportions — and that was with just my one good ear. It must have been much harder on those with better hearing and was an unnecessary distraction.
Fans still have two more chances to see the company perform, next weekend at the Chiayi Performing Arts Center (嘉義縣表演藝術中心演藝廳).
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