It is with light feet but heavy hearts that Cloud Gate 2 dancers will take to the stage of Novel Hall this week for their Spring Gathering 2006. The company opened its 2006 tour last Saturday night in founder and artistic director Lo Man-fei's (羅曼菲) hometown of Ilan, just a few weeks after she died of cancer on March 24.
On the program is Lo's final work, Pursuing the Dream, Gloaming by Bulareyaung Pagarlava (布
Lo invited one of her favorite former students, Martha Graham Dance Company principal dancer Sheu Fang-yi (許
PHOTOS: LIN JING-YUAN, CLOUD GATE 2
The piece was a chance for Lo to collaborate with her elder sister Sophie Lo (羅蘇菲), a New York City-based singer. Sophie Lo will sing excerpts from traditional kun operas, including Peony Pavilion during the program, while Sheu dances the role of Tu Li-niang, who is willing to live or die for love.
"She [Lo Man-fei] made this piece because her sister can sing. She thought it would be a good chance to choreograph something for me and to work with her sister. Their relationship was very tight ... I know her sister is nervous that she will be too emotional to sing," Sheu told the Taipei Times in an interview before Cloud Gate Dance Theater's opening night for White X3 and Formosa two weekends ago.
Even though this is the second year in a row that Sheu is dancing with the company, she stressed that she is only a "guest."
PHOTOS: LIN JING-YUAN, CLOUD GATE 2
"I'm always waiting for the next invitation. It's not my main job. But this was a great opportunity to work with Bula [Bulareyaung] and with Lo Man-fei," she said.
Sheu acknowledged that Lo hoped that the company's dancers would be inspired by how she has carved out a full-time career as a professional dancer with an internationally renowned company.
"When Lo was young she really didn't take dancing seriously as a career until she saw the Alvin Ailey company and thought `maybe I can do that, maybe I should try that,'" Sheu said. "Maybe a young dancer here could have the same experience she did."
Sheu said she had gained a lot from Lo.
"Another gift Lo Man-fei gave to me was pushing me to try different places, letting me know that I have different talents -- as a rehearsal director, artistic director -- she didn't know if I could do it, but she trusted me [to try]," Sheu said.
Sheu will also be dancing in Gloaming, which she said was a change of pace from boyfriend Bula's piece for last spring's performance.
"It's about the period right before death ... almost the end, we call it jiang jin (將
The final piece, A Dignified Joke, is a little lighter, Sheu said, to have the audience leaving the theater on a happy note. Choreographer Cheng explores the human character and finds that behind each person's dignified appearance is a joke. In the piece, the 16 dancers put on layers of clothing and use new body language as they awkwardly try to move about.
After Thursday's opening night performance, the company has organized a special memorial for Lo. It will show a 1991 video of Lo performing her signature solo Requiem, choreographed by Cloud Gate Dance Theater founder and artistic director Lin Hwai-min (林
After the video is shown, Bulareyaung, Cheung and the company's dancers will place Lo's favorite flowers, yellow orchids, on stage in her honor. The company will also have extra flowers on hand for any audience members who would like to pay their respects to Lo.
Lo became the artistic director of Cloud Gate 2 in 1999 to foster young choreographers and provide a stage for young dancers, who range in age from 18 to 25.
"Lo Man-fei loved young talent, especially choreographers. We train a lot of good dancers [in Taiwan] but after they graduate what can they do?" Sheu said. "She wanted them to have a place to perform, to create a stage for them, a very, very good stage. Before [getting to] the big stage you have to start small and move up."
Cloud Gate 2 will go on without Lo, but who will step into her shoes as director is not yet known.
"One year after she [Lo] founded the company she discovered she had cancer. So for more than four years she was a patient and a company director. Like a European house director, she came to meetings and rehearsals, but left room for the dancers and choreographers to do their work." Lin told the Taipei Times in an interview earlier this month.
"I'm just babysitting it now. I don't know what is going to happen," Lin said. "I don't have other directors in mind at this moment."
However, he said, "I want [Cloud Gate 2] to do a lot of demos [demonstrations] on campuses ... do pieces without lighting or technical baggage, develop a repertoire of excerpts of all their pieces -- lots of duets, trios, quartets."
What: Cloud Gate 2 -- Spring Gathering 2006
When: Thursday, May 4 to Sunday, May 7 with performances at 7:45pm each night and matinees at 2:45pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Where: Novel Hall
Tickets: Prices range from NT$400 to NT$1,200; available through
www.artstickets.com.tw
The company will perform at National Sun Yat-sen University
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
RSS