Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (雲門舞集) artistic director Lin Hwai-min (林懷民) yesterday said that the time was right to start planning his retirement: for him, the company he has led since founding it in 1973 and for Taiwan.
The company held its press preview yesterday for Lin’s latest work, Formosa (關於島嶼), which premieres tonight at the National Theater in Taipei. It drew an unusually large number of television camera crews, photographers and journalists.
A new work by Lin is always an event, but the company’s short announcement on Wednesday that Lin he would retire at the end of 2019 and be succeeded by Cloud Gate 2 (雲門2) artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung (鄭宗龍) in January 2020 left everyone wanting to know why.
Photo: Pan Shao-tang, Taipei Times
His answer could be summed up as: “It is the right time.”
The 70-year-old Lin said he was feeling his age, not always remembering people’s names when he met them in the street, for example.
“I do not want to make Cloud Gate a museum-style company,” he said, adding that he did not want to wait until he was 90 and only able to “dance with his hands.”
Photo: Pan Shao-tang, Taipei Times
“Two years after the opening of the Cloud Gate Theater, we are in a stable position,” he said, referring to the theater, studio, workshop and office complex that opened in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) in April 2015.
“I have been thinking about this for a long time... 2020 is a good time, Tsung-lung is in a good position; the company is in a good position,” he said, adding that the two-year buffer period would allow for a smooth transition.
“It is time for young choreographers to create with their own voices,” he said.
He reminded the media that he had not started out wanting to become a dancer or a choreographer, but was just looking for a way to help Taiwanese gain a wider voice.
“I didn’t want to create a company. I was a writer. I wanted Taiwan to have its own voice, its own experience. I started the company with some fellow dancers and thought that I would turn it over to professionals… That didn’t happen. I never dreamed of performing around the world,” he said.
However, Cloud Gate has never been his alone and he was never solely responsible for its success, he said.
The Taiwanese audiences that have loyally supported the troupe, the dancers he worked with, and the thousands of people who donated money to help Cloud Gate rebuild after the fire that destroyed its studio complex in the then-Taipei County’s Bali Township (八里) in February 2008, all helped make the company what it is, he said.
Cloud Gate was Taiwan’s first professional dance company and almost 45 years later it remains the nation’s only full-time dance troupe, which makes him feel sad, Lin said.
“The performance arts market in Taiwan still faces great challenges, he said.
Asked if Formosa would be his swan song for the company, Lin said he did not think he would be creating another major work for the troupe before he steps down.
“There is a lot to do, but I go with the flow. You never know,” he said.
As for afterwards?
“Tsung-lung might never ask me to choreograph for the company,” Lin joked.
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