Critics have raved about the virtuosity of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan’s dancers, claiming they “possess a control and articulation that verge on the superhuman” (Chicago Sun-Times). Trained in chi kung, meditation, internal martial arts, Chinese opera, modern dance and ballet, the company performs a rich repertoire with roots in Asian myths, folklore and aesthetics, infused with a contemporary perspective.
Set to music by composer Toshio Hosokawa using traditional Asian instruments, Lin Hwai-min’s newest work, Water Stains on the Wall, is performed on a white raked stage (evoking rice paper) containing projected images of drifting clouds in varying degrees of blackness. Like flowing ink, the projections create spaces that are constantly shifting, reminiscent of Chinese classical landscape painting.
The dancers give the illusion of clouds and water as their light skirts are frequently “dyed” black by the projected shadows and reappear in shining white light. Suggesting a long process of natural evolution, “water stains on the wall” is a popular Chinese metaphor representing the highest state in the aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy.
When: 28 – 29, 2011 at 8:00 PM
Where: Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Dance Center of Columbia College,
205 E. Randolph Drive, Chicago, IL, 60601
Ticket: $25 – $65
For more info click here.
