THE Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan is bringing its own production, Formosa, to Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur, next month.
Presented by INXO Arts & Culture (L) Foundation, the Formosa performance here on March 16 and 17 marks Cloud Gate’s only tour stop for Southeast Asia this year.
Formosa (pix) first premiered in Taipei on Nov 24, 2017, and was staged in several cities across the US and Europe last year.
Choreographed by Lin Hwai-min, the founder of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, the production is based on what Portuguese sailors exclaimed – “Formosa!” which means ‘beautiful’ – when they first caught sight of Taiwan in the 16th century, an island rising from the sea and thick with mountains and trees.
The 71-year-old Taiwanese dancer, writer, choreographer used his homeland, an island beset by earthquakes, typhoons and societal rifts, as a metaphor of the world we live in today.
Recorded indigenous songs, contemporary music, reading of poems about the land, and lore of the island serve as the soundscape, while luminous projected images of Chinese character typefaces provide the visual backdrop.
The characters refer to the mountains and rivers, cities and villages of Taiwan. They interlock, overlap and merge to evoke a host of stunning imagery.
Against the lustrous, transfigured sphere, dancers mingle in intimations of community, making tribal ritual and urban bustle seem as one and transforming the stage into a playground of love and life, together with all its tragedy, hope, violence and renewal.
Lin adopted the classical name Cloud Gate, the oldest known dance company in China, for the contemporary dance company he founded in 1973.
The current line-up comprises 24 dancers who not only receive training in modern dance and ballet, but also train in meditation, the ancient breathing exercise of qi gong, internal martial arts, as well as calligraphy.
Through Lin’s choreographies, the company has transformed ancient aesthetics into a thrilling and modern celebration of motion.
For tickets to Formosa, visit the AirAsia RedTix website.
