"Dance for All” — The Perfect Encounter of Cloud Gate 2 and SYSU
Source: News Centre
Written by: Chen Xiaowen
Photos by: Liu Zhenxiang, Kai Saier
Translated by: Chen Zhiyong
Cloud Gate 2 of the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan came to Sun Yat-sen University on November 21, which was the last stop of its mainland university tour after Tsinghua University, Fudan University and Zhejiang University. At 7.30 pm, the K.K. Leung Hall saw a wonderful and diverse feast of modern dance. The performance received great acclaim from the audience.
Cloud Gate 2, consisting of several young and outstanding choreographers and sixteen young professional dancers, was founded by Lin Hwai-min, an internationally renowned choreographer, in 1999. “Dance for all” is its ideal. Apart from international tours, Cloud Gate 2 also goes to villages and towns, disaster-stricken areas and schools to perform and promote dancing.
At 7 pm, half an hour before the start of the performance, people were already flooding in K.K. Leung Hall; at 7.30, every seat in the hall was occupied. Cloud Gate 2 went onto stage spectacularly. The performance included four classic works: Wicked Fish, Can’t Make It, The Wall, and Broken Chapter.
A stage photo of Wicked Fish
When there was side lighting on the dark stage and dancers in black leotards quickly stepped onto the stage like fish, the show started. What they were giving was Wicked Fish, in which bodies created moving space, illustrating the beauty of order disguised in chaos.
Wise, lively and humorous, perhaps these were the style which struck the strongest impression on the audience of SYSU. This was particularly the case in the second dance Can’t Make It. Choreographer Bulareyaung Pagarlava gave abstract orders from the auditorium and at once dancers onstage performed by postures, movements, facial expressions and even speech. During the performance, one of the dancers expressed his love for SYSU: “I love SYSU because Dr. Sun Yat-sen is my idol,” which aroused laughter and applause from the audience. The wit of the dancers gave people the beauty of possibility, demystifying the creation and letting the audience and the choreographers witness the birth of art.
The Wall is the work by choreographer Cheng Tsung-lung to express the state of dilemma. Two rows of dancers formed a “dark wall”, conveying a sense of distress in the tense and gloomy music. With dancers’ moving and dispersing, the “wall” on the stage and the "wall” in heart were gradually torn down and crumbled.
A stage photo of Broken Chapter
Though only a piece of Broken Chapter was performed, its appeal remained strong. The audience felt fear, horror and sorrow from the movements of dancers like springing, crouching and trembling, and they had deeper thoughts. Perhaps it was just as what the choreographer of the work Wu Kuo-chu said, “Behind every wish is the sorrow of disappointment. When we stretch our bodies, we are telling the secrets of these wishes.”
Audience dancing with dancers
But Broken Chapter was not the last dance. The last work was a revel of art completed by dancers and audience together. Dancers invited dozens of audiences onto the stage and dance; down in the auditorium people imitated the dancers’ movements and stretched and moved their bodies. The silent hall was transformed into a happy party. “Nonprofessional” dancing brought relief to the body and joy to the soul.
After the performance, audiences interacted with the choreographers eagerly. All said that the performance had shortened the distance between art and themselves and that they sensed its charm in delight. Cheng Tsung-lung said, “We want to share our dancing with more people, that’s why we perform in different places.” The young and lively Cloud Gate 2 brought dancing to every corner and shared the beauty of art with different people. Maybe this was the realisation of its ideal “Dance for all”.
In lasting applause and passionate cheers, the beautiful encounter of Cloud Gate 2 and SYSU came to a successful end.
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