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Songs of the Wanderers
Birmingham Hippodrome
International Dance Festival Birmingham 2016
*** CLOUD Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan are
said to be Asia’s leading contemporary dance theatre. Their previous shows are internationally
acclaimed and the company have toured extensively around the world. Their contemporary
performance Song of the Wanderers
came to Birmingham Hippodrome as part of the International Dance
Festival Birmingham 2016 and bridged ancient and contemporary Asian
practices to create a performance of a strong spiritual presence through
art. In a company of contemporary dancers
choreographed by Lin Hwai-Min, individuals became one with each other.
In breezy moving sequences, the dancers moved as a group to form bold
imagery intertwined with the story of peace and meditation. The company had half male and half female dancers
which lead to striking moments showing the relationship between the two
sexes. There were at times sensual connotations, as the dancers moved
closer to bind themselves together. As the male and female partnered
together, the audience saw dramatic shapes and strong frames created
marvellously with their nimble bodies. The addition of the accompanying music alone was
something to inspire.. The Rustavi Choir’s Georgian Folksongs were heard
as an addition to the company’s spiritual choreography. Through this, Cloud Gate gave Birmingham an
authentic deliverance of Asian culture with peaceful sounds. As the
music blended with the dancers’ movements, the audience were instantly
transported to Taiwan and a blissful ambiance was created from start to
finish, bringing authentic sounds of serenity and peace. The music was slow and tranquil and it was easy
to see that the performers became one with their background with great
ease. Props of tall sticks were also used to create an image of the
barren trees in sandy lands. They had small bells attached to the end
and when the dancers moved, the chimes blended into the delicate sound
scape. Cloud Gate are inspired by the ancient and modern
spiritual practices of Asia and it was clear that within this
performance, the use of the natural elements was a major theme. In an
impressive moment which showed the audience how skilful and committed
the dancers were to their art, fire was integrated in a sequence of
strong focus and energy. In a moment of striking choreography, we saw
vessels of fire being balanced on the heads of each dancer and after,
big and bold movements were seen all around, which was made even more
spectacular as their used the rice to create flares of patterns in the
air. The fire remained still and was carried away to balance chaos and
stillness. The most impressive part of the performance was
of course the spectacular stage design by Austin Wang. At the start of
the show, we saw a lone monk to the left of the stage. He stayed there
for the entirety of the performance in deep meditation. Sometimes it was
hard not to take an eye off him. This was certainly impressive; however,
he was meditating under a shower of rice that constantly ran down as the
performance played on for the show’s ninety minute run-time. A blanket of rice was also seen over the stage
and created beautiful golden imagery of a sandy texture. Dancers used
the rice, three and a half tons of it, to display a spectacular picture
that looked similar to pouring water. This beautiful Asian Dance Theatre company have
mindfulness at the heart of every movement. At the end of the piece, we
saw a lone monk raking the stage to form a crop circle. For the last
twenty minutes of the performance, the audience watched him create the
tiny beginning of the circle until it covered the entire stage with his
carefully crafted and incredibly detailed method. Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan have a way of
putting the audience into a trance, allowing the effects of its Buddhist
style meditative inspiration take over and fill every mind. Although one might think that the production was
in fact slow, this was perhaps the very intention of what Cloud Gate
wanted to achieve. In a performance that had beautiful artistic
elements, they took their background of Asian spirituality which
injected a Western audience with the power of tranquillity of the mind. Elizabeth Halpin 11-05-16
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