Presented online as part of the Sadler's Wells series of streamings of past productions they have hosted in their theatre, this was a filmed live performance of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre Company's production of 'Moon Water' from their home city, The National Theatre in Taipei, Taiwan.
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre is the first contemporary dance compnay in Taiwan,.and under the artistic directorship of their choreographer Lin Hwai-Min, they have a styrong ethic of combining Western contemporary ballet with the spiritualism and teachings of Buddhism, as well as martial arts and Tai Chi. In this piece, Moon Water, these elements are obvious, but are striking, elegant, and mesmeric.
It's a very slow-moving piece of 'theatre'. It starts with a male solo, his movements, technique, balance, body-centering, muscle isolation, energy, centredness, all form the basis of the entire 70+ minutes of the piece. You could call his solo the exposition and what follows the development. Moving to the denouement - a section when water appears on the stage, to the finale; a quiet, silent moment when the dancers move away from the water and one by one exit the space.
Dressed identically (Ling Ching-Ju) in loose-fitting white martial arts style trousers and 'bare' chested, there is a unity within the troupe, and they appear like lotus blossoms floating on the surface of the water. The stage (Austin Wang), black, apart from a white swirl, is impressive and beautiful when reflected in the oblique mirrors when uncovered around the rear of the stage. The final 'picture' of water, dancers and mirrors is truly beautiful. It certainly reflects (a-hem, apologies!) the title of Moon Water admirably. Hwai-Min has taken inspiration from two quotations for his choreography in this piece. First from the Tai Chi handbook, "Energy flows as water, while the spirit shines as the moon". And second, a Buddhist proverb. "Flowers in a mirror and the moon on the water are both illusive.".
The whole dance is sedate, meditative, spiritual, graceful, and quite hypnotic. However, I do have to confess, that perhaps because it was not live and on a computer screen, or perhaps because there was too little variation, my mind did wander and I was somewhat bored at times.
The dancers are undoubtedly extremely talented and trained not only in contemporary dance but also martial arts and Tai Chi, and the stark imagery they created and the power and control of their bodies was indeed incredible. A true work of art. Softness in strength, and stillness in motion.
The music used throughout is J S Bach's suites for solo cello, which add to the Westernisation of the movements and our understanding of them, and also, give a sense of calm and plaintivenesss to the piece as a whole. But it was the moments of silence, without the cello, which were for me the more poignant. Naturally the superb image of the "moon" on the water created towards the end was highly creative and imaginative in its simplicity.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 15/5/20
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