One of the great rewards for suffering through the heat and humidity of Taipei summers is the annual free outdoor performance in Liberty Plaza by the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (雲門舞集).
The free shows in Taipei and usually one or two other locations around the nation have been underwritten by Cathay Financial Holdings for 23 years, and have developed quite a following.
While the Taipei shows now regularly attract more than 10,000 people, crowd control procedures and scores of Cloud Gate and Cathay volunteers ensure that pathways are kept clear, walkers are kept moving and that the elderly or physically challenged are steered to sections with plastic stool seating so everyone can have a clear view of the stage and the two massive screens flanking it.
Photo: CNA
This year the company is performing Formosa (關於島嶼), which premiered in November last year at the National Theater, and is reportedly founder and artistic director Lin Hwai-min’s (林懷民) last new work for the company before he retires at the end of next year.
The company has been busy touring with the show, as well as Rice (稻禾), since the beginning of the year, with a six-city trip of the US, London, Paris, Lisbon and two separate visits to Germany.
Formosa is the final chapter of Lin’s four-part paean to Taiwan and its people, which began with his historic Legacy (渡海) in 1978, followed by Portrait of the Families (家族合唱) in 1997 and 2013’s Rice.
Photo: CNA
While Taiwan is at the heart of Formosa, from the storytelling elements to the place names in the poetry read by poet, calligrapher and painter Chiang Hsun (蔣勳), the story of the island is really a metaphor for life: Like the best of Lin’s works, it transcends time and place.
It is also a very personal reflection on the multicultural nation this land has become.
While I hate to think that Formosa is the last work from Lin, it would be a fitting coda to his life’s work and achievements, as well as the scores of dancers who have worked with him since he founded the company in 1973.
Formosa begins in a timeless vacuum, with a stage bare except for a white floor and backdrop. Chiang begins to read Chen Lieh’s (陳列) Arriving and Departing Yushan and after a few moments the first dancer appears, as do the first projections of poetry and Chinese characters onto the backdrop.
Over the course of the dance, the characters vary from tiny stars to massive mountains, they form words and then break apart, drifting, melding, expanding, contracting, filling the sky or crashing like waves, just as the dancers come together to establish a harmonious community before frictions, clashes and natural disasters fuel panic and create wedges that drive them apart.
At the end, following a beautiful montage of crashing waves, the stage returns to the bare whiteness of the beginning, save one male dancer looking out into the audience, into the future.
While some might feel that whiteness projects a void, the overall feeling left by Formosa is one of hope and pride.
The projection designs were created by Chou Tung-yen (周東彥) and Very Mainstream Studio, the videography was by Howell Chang Hao-jan (張皓然), with music by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, Taiwanese musician Liang Chun-mei (粱春美) and Puyuma singer Sangpuy Katatepan Mavaliyw and costumes by London-based Taiwanese designer Apu Jan (詹朴).
While the first audience members for the summertime Liberty Plaza shows have been known to turn up as early as noon to secure a front row spot for the 7:30pm show, the bulk of the crowd does not arrive until after 5pm.
Although bringing a picnic is always a good idea, showgoers should at least bring a cushion or some form of groundsheet to sit on and hand fans to help defeat the heat, raingear if showers are predicted, as well as something to drink.
The company also reminds viewers to respect intellectual property rights and not record or film the performance without permission.
45TH ANNIVERSARY
In related news, Cloud Gate last week announced its 45th Anniversary Gala Program tour, which will open at the National Theater on Nov. 16 for an eight-show run before heading to Taichung for a couple of shows at the National Taichung Theater (Nov. 30 to Dec. 2), two shows to mark the opening of the Weiwuying Opera House in Kaohsiung (Dec. 7 and Dec. 8) and two shows in Tainan (Dec. 15 and Dec. 16).
The program, Dance Selection, will offer a retrospective of some of Lin’s iconic creations and more recent works, featuring excerpts from Portrait of the Families, Moon Water (水月), Cursive (竹夢), Pine Smoke (行草), Dust (松煙), Wind Shadow (風．影), How Can I Live On Without You (如果沒有你), Rice and White Water (白水).
Lin told a news conference at the National Theater on Tuesday last week that it was impossible to separate the company’s dancers from the dances, so the anniversary program had been selected after consultation with senior members of the troupe as a way of thanking the companies audiences of the past four-and-a-half decades.
He said that reviewing the history of the nation since the company was founded — leaving the UN, the break in formal diplomatic relations with the US, the end of martial law, the legalization of opposition parties, the first direction election of the president — made living in Taiwan comparable to standing in a boat, constantly seeking to maintain one’s balance.
However, Taiwan, its history and the diversity of its people had provided a very good creative environment, Lin said.
“We always survive in the cracks, the typhoons, the earthquakes,” he said.
Lin also announced that several of his senior dancers would retire with him at the end of next year, although he gave no names.
The tickets for the Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan shows are already on sale at the National Theater Concert Hall (NTCH) boxes offices in Taipei, online at www.artsticket.com.tw or convenience store ticket kiosks; preorders for the Taichung shows will open next month.
Given that the year-end shows could be the last time the company performs some of these works in Taiwan, tickets are expected to go quickly.
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