A View Through the Clouds – Cloudgate Dance Theatre in Ottawa

“You are a kung fu man – and you do it very well!” The impeccably polite, warm and exacting Associate Artistic Director of Taiwan’s Cloudgate Dance Theatre’s compliments were the highlight of my week. Lee Ching-Chieh had just led a dance master-class on her company’s movement technique at the National Arts Centre of Canada in Ottawa where they were performing their latest piece, Wild Cursive.

I first heard of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre from Plum Publication’s Debbie Shayne. Debbie had told me that Adam Hsu was the company martial arts instructor and that choreographer Lin Hwai-Min had developed his signature style of dance by incorporating both Qigong and martial movement into his training.

The class began with simplified movements taken from Xiung Wei’s Taiji Daoyin sequence, which is a movement series that seems to blend the small circle (Xiao Jia) of Zhao Bao Taijiquan (a martial art related to Chen Taijiquan) with joint mobility and trunk extension exercises. We moved on to Tan Tui, or spring kick training and a choreographic sequence. The highlight of the class for me was an improvisation series developed off slow syncopated hand rotations that created an impression of opening and closing flowers. We also created a standing version of the same using the feet.

In performance Wild Cursive revealed a technically stunning company at the top of their form. The dances were relentless, alternating between contemplative intimacy and martially inspired exuberance. As a ‘kung fu man’ my critique was that the company seems not to have taken sufficient advantage of the unique features of martial training. While they kick and leap and bend impressively, leg extensions, jumping and flexibility are features of a great number of dance approaches. To delve deeper into the specific use of martial movement I would want them to see the unique approach to partner training (Tui Shou, or push hands) and internal torso rotation unique to martial movement training applied to their work.

~ by Daniel Mroz on October 29, 2007.