Cloud Gate founder to close the lid on epic dance piece

It is hard to tell a story if every part of it can be a climax. For choreographer Lin Hwai-min and his Cloud Gate Dance Theater, that's just how it was for their show Nine Songs.

"Nine Songs is a heavy show," Lin said during the press conference at the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) on Monday. Twenty years ago, when the Cloud Gate team was rushing day-by-day from city to city to perform, Lin made the decision to create something "heavy" so that they could stay in one place for a whole week. It led to the creation of Nine Songs in 1993 with the most complex sets and largest number of performers of any show in his repertoire.

Lin brought in world-renowned set designer Ming Cho Lee to design the stage. A pond of water decorated with real lotus flowers has become one of the hallmarks of the show. Lin said they would spend weeks performing at one theater in Europe, dancers would sometimes put little fish in the pond. But after a few rounds of performances, Lin found the show too time-consuming to prepare: he eventually excluded it from the company's play list.

During Spring Festival 2008, Cloud Gate's headquarters in Taipei was damaged in a fire. Almost all the props and costumes were destroyed. In the ruins, Lin discovered the damaged boxes containing masks from Nine Songs. Miraculously, the masks made of natural materials like grass and mud for characters playing gods all survived.

At a press conference after the fire Lin promised in tears that the ribbon on top of the mask would fly again.

Last year in Taipei, to mark Could Gate's 2000th performance, Nine Songs finally met the audience again. Now, it is the mainland's turn to enjoy the piece as it will be staged at the NCPA from February 28 to March 2 and later in cities like Guangzhou and Chongqing.

Anthropology and worship

The name Nine Songs comes from a masterpiece of literature written by Qu Yuan of the Warring States Period (475BC-221BC). It was said to be an adaptation of a song of worship. Having grown up very close to a temple, Lin developed an interest in all kinds of worship.

In 1986, when he was traveling in Malaysia, he witnessed a local worship service. Through singing and dancing, he saw the struggles of mankind. Though the people worshipped endlessly, the gods never arrived. Thus inspired, Lin took Qu Yuan's Nine Songs as a basis to represent ancient Chinese people's religious rituals.

Instead of recreating the scene of an ancient religious festival, Lin has some actors in modern suits and carrying suitcases. As they walk across the stage, a connection is formed between the traditional content and the modern audience.

"Nine Songs worships Chinese culture," said Zhao Ruheng, art director of the NCPA. For Lin, it is about love, religion, politics, nature and everything else involved in the process. "A ceremony is not a single event but carries tons of information behind it. It is everything. Dance itself is a ceremony," he said.

Cultural foundation

Works by Cloud Gate have a reputation of being deep and complicated, containing layers of themes. Murong Xixi, an associate professor at Beijing Dance Academy said that we always feel that we have seen all of Lin's works and read enough about him, but then there are always new discoveries from watching his shows and listening to his lectures.

Legend of the White Snake has elements from Chinese operas. Moon Water involves tai chi in dance moves backed by Bach. The Cursive trilogy is inspired by calligraphy.

Murong told the Global Times that Lin has been "searching poses" from ballet, operas and all kinds of art forms to match his changing ideas about his early works. This exploration in art was later transferred from "text, form and cultural symbol" to a more sophisticated spirit. Cloud Gate dancers learn all kinds of styles as well as Chinese opera and tai chi. Breath control and calligraphy are also part of the training.

The music used also comes from Western classics, Japanese, Indian folk songs and ethnic Chinese melodies.

"His works are not only performances but also a kind of art education. They are made for the people, artistic and international," said Zhao. 

Ups and downs

Lin studied literature at the University of Iowa and took up modern dance as a hobby. In 1973, he came back to Taiwan and met a group of young people who loved dance as much as he did. In order to find a stage to perform on, Lin created Cloud Gate, thinking he would leave it to professionals in the future. Beyond expectation, their first show achieved huge success and turned Lin's career around. That year, he was 26.

The road ahead for Cloud Gate was not all that bright. Following the rapid economic development of Taiwan in the late 1980s, Cloud Gate was "left behind." Even though the troupe was welcomed abroad, Lin decided to shut it down.

He changed his mind after a conversation with a taxi driver who recognized him and asked why he stopped Cloud Gate. "You must continue," the Taxi driver said. Lin got out of the car, and the driver insisted on returning Lin's money and said, "Cheer Up!" Lin realized that Cloud Gate had evolved in the local culture, which helped him regain focus and passion.

In 1999, Lin created Cloud Gate 2 for younger dancers and choreographers. In the past decade they have created new works and performed them at different colleges.

"He's not walking alone. He had a 'child' with him," said Zhao.

Now, dancers who perform the leading roles in Nine Songs are about 40 years old. Lin hopes to seal the box of Nine Songs after this round, leaving time and space for new works.

"How can Cloud Gate not perform such an essential show in the future? Won't you miss it?" one of the journalists from Taiwan asked during the press conference.

"There are too many separations that you don't want to have in life," Lin responded.

But as Zhao said, performances by Cloud Gate always leave something in the audience's heart: that might be just enough for Lin and us.