Cheng Tsung-lung (鄭宗龍) recently premiered Send in a Cloud, the artistic director’s second piece since he took the helm of Cloud Gate Dance Theater (雲門舞集) in 2020 from founder Lin Hwai-min (林懷民). And judging by the Taipei performance, he’s living up to Lin’s legacy.
Its Chinese title, Xia (霞), evokes a panorama of changing colors across the horizon, which Cloudgate has brought to life on stage.
Cheng says the performance features experimentation with hip-hop dance moves, providing a new sense of hybrid cosmopolitan fluidity.
Photo by Lee Chia-yeh, courtesy of Cloud Gate Dance Theater
With tours canceled due to COVID-19 and extra time at their home studio in Tamsui, Cheng took the opportunity to delve deeper into the creative process, which translated into a performance of mostly solos and duets.
For example, in one stand-out section, Shao Hsing-wen (邵倖紋) appears as a silhouette under a dim light against the bright zebra-like stripes projected on the screen behind her, echoing the black lines on her green outfit.
In this solo, Shao blends the feet movement from Chinese Opera known as “cloud walk” (雲步) with similar change of weight shifts by popping dancers in the style of hip-hop. This scene was danced to the sarabande music from Bach’s Suite No. 2, which was also used by Lin in his Moon Water (水月, 1998).
Photo by Liu Chen-hsiang, courtesy of National Theater and Concert Hall
In another movement, Cheng chose the saxophone version of Bach’s Cello Suites by Yasuaki Shimizu, which resonates with the bodily rhythm of the dancers.
Projection designer Chou Tung-yen (周東彥) invited the dancers to illustrate their inner landscape on paper, which he then transformed into a vivid collection of colors and lines, which were adapted by animator Wei Ho-ting (魏閤廷) on the screen.
The highly individualistic costumes designed by Fan Huai-chih (范懷之) were carefully coordinated to compliment the dancer’s virtuosic movements with the moving visuals behind them.
Photo by Liu Chen-hsiang, courtesy of National Theater and Concert Hall
Though many parts of the performance are informed by the previous two years of pandemic life, Send in a Cloud ends with an uplifting finale.
Beams of colorful light shines out toward the audience, as a sole figure fervently dances in a fog of white smoke, until the very end of the familiar prelude from Bach’s Suite No 1, which opened the piece. This closure brings a sense hope for the future.
Kudos to the other collaborating artists including lighting designer Shen Po-hung (沈柏宏) and American Grammy-award winning sound engineer Maracelo Anez, who flew in from the US for this production.
Newly appointed company dramaturg Chen Pin-hsiu (陳品秀) critically engaged with Cheng on this creative journey.
Send in a Cloud’s run of performances have ended, but Cloudgate will be touring 13 Tongues from June 3 to June 25. For ticketing information (Chinese and English), visit: www.cloudgate.org.tw.
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