Cloud Gate Dance Theatre Schedule 2007

The following information was taken from the programme for Cloud Gate’s November-December 2006 Taiwan season (translated from the Chinese).

Note that "Wild Cursive" was previously known as "Cursive III".

* indicates the date and/or venue is unconfirmed.

Adelaide (Festival Centre), Australia
February 13-14: Cursive

Perth (His Majesty’s Theatre), Australia
February 19-21: Wild Cursive

Taipei (National Theatre) Taiwan
March 30-April 7: New works (with Cloud Gate 2)

Hong Kong
April 25-26: Tale of the White Serpent & Unforgettable Moments of Cloud Gate
April 28-29: White

Wiesbaden, Germany
May 26-27: Wild Cursive

Ludwigshafen, Germany
May 31-June 1: Wild Cursive

Moscow, Russia
June 7-9: Songs of the Wanderers

London (Sadler’s Wells), UK
June 19-22: Wild Cursive

Beijing, China
July 11-12: Unforgettable Moments of Cloud Gate
July 14-15: Moon Water

Taitung, Taiwan
August 18: tbc

Hualien, Taiwan*
August 25: tbc

Montreal, Canada
September 20-22: Wild Cursive

Quebec City, Canada
September 25: Wild Cursive

USA tour
September 28-October 17 (sorry apart from NYC this is all still to be confirmed and no individual dates are given)
Chapel Hill, NC: Wild Cursive*
Lawrence, KS: Wild Cursive*
Minneapolis, MN: Wild Cursive*
Springfield, OH: Wild Cursive*

New York City, NY
October 2, 4-7: Wild Cursive

Ottawa (National Arts Centre), Canada*
October 20: Wild Cursive

St Paulo, Brazil
October 25-28: Wild Cursive

Taipei (National Theatre), Taiwan
November 23-December 2: tba

Taichung (Zhongshan Hall), Taiwan
December 7-8: tba

Tainan (Cultural Centre), Taiwan
December 14-15: tba

Kaohsiung (Culture Centre), Taiwan
December 21-22: tba

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre Schedule 2007 (updated)

I have now received an updated schedule direct from the company, see below.

This now includes the theatre or festival for each venue. Note also the addition of a new date for Sydney, the confirmation of the Minneapolis, Lawrence and Ottawa dates. Chapel Hill and Springfield have disappeared from the schedule but I’m not sure whether this means they are still provisional or now not happening. I believe the Taitung and Hualien provisional performances may well be open-air.

All choreography by Lin Hwai-min unless stated otherwise.

“Unforgettable Moments of Cloud Gate” includes “Milky Way”, “Tale of the White Serpent”, “Requiem”, and excepts from “Nine Songs”, “Legacy”, “Moon Water” and “Cursive II”.

The schedule:

Adelaide (Festival Centre)
February 13-14: Cursive

Perth (His Majesty’s Theatre)
February 19-21: Wild Cursive

Taipei (National Theatre)
March 30-April 7: Lost Shadows (ch Akram Khan), Oculus (ch Wu Kuo-chu) (with Cloud Gate 2)

Hong Kong (Cultural Centre)
April 25-26: Tale of the White Serpent & Unforgettable Moments of Cloud Gate
April 28-29: White

Sydney (Opera House)
May 22-23: Wild Cursive

Wiesbaden (Internationale Maifestspiele)
May 26-27: Wild Cursive

Ludwigshafen (Theater im Pfalzbau)
May 31-June 1: Wild Cursive

Moscow (Checkov International Theatre Festival)
June 7-9: Songs of the Wanderers

London (Sadler’s Wells)
June 19-22: Wild Cursive

Beijing (Poly Theatre)
July 11-12: Unforgettable Moments of Cloud Gate
July 14-15: Moon Water

Taitung
August 18: tbc

Hualien
August 25: tbc

Montreal (Theatre Maisonneuve)
September 20-22: Wild Cursive

Quebec City (Grand Theatre de Quebec)
September 25: Wild Cursive

New York City (Next Wave Festival)
October 2, 4-7: Wild Cursive

Minneapolis (Northrop Auditorium, University of Minnesota):
October 13: Wild Cursive

Lawrence (Lied Center of Kansas)
October 16: Wild Cursive

Ottawa (National Arts Centre), Canada
October 20: Wild Cursive

St Paulo (Teatro Alfa)
October 25-28: Wild Cursive

Taipei (National Theatre)
November 23-December 2: Nine Songs

Taichung (Zhongshan Hall)
December 7-8: Nine Songs

Tainan (Cultural Centre)
December 14-15: Nine Songs

Kaohsiung (Culture Centre)
December 21-22: Nine Songs

‘The Amazing Adventures of BoBo: Who Stole the Nutcracker?’ - Cloud Gate 2
Novel Hall, Taipei; January 19th, 2007

Cloud Gate 2 is the well-known Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s second company. Like many second companies, it has a strong education remit, undertaking a wide range of such projects and residencies with colleges and universities. It also touring smaller venues and community settings and aims to encourage and foster young choreographers while still including occasional whole pieces or excerpts from the main company repertoire.

BoBo first made an appearance in 2003 when the then artistic director, the late and much missed Lo Man-fei, decided to programme a new full-length production specifically aimed allowing whole families to enjoy performances together by bringing together dance, drama, theatre, music and education. Since then, the adventures of BoBo, an extra- terrestrial and the strange characters he meets have become a regular feature of Taiwan’s dance scene around Christmas and the New Year.

Briefly, this story told of BoBo’s adventures as he journeyed to find and rescue the Nutcracker doll, stolen from beside the fireplace by King Rat (think Captain Hook from “Peter Pan”). It included strong references to two well-known tales. The way BoBo (Chen Li-ya) initially followed King Rat (Liao Tsu-yi) through the fireplace and discovered the strange world beyond drew parallels with the way Alice followed the Rabbit and discovered Wonderland. This world too was inhabited by strange animals such as purple cats and a red mouse in a cheese castle. Then, like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz”, BoBo picked up three companions to help in his quest, Queen Flame (Chang Ji-jia), QQ (Wu Chung-ying) and a red mouse (Ye Wen-bang) who lived in a cheese castle. Indeed QQ, leader of what looked like a 70’s pop group and dressed like brightly coloured candy, was just like Dorothy’s lion, all bravado on the outside but a coward at heart.

Like all the other BoBo tales, the performance included plenty of comedy and audience participation, with the children encouraged to cheer and shout, and at one point blow hard to revive the Queen Flame who was rapidly going out. At one point the characters even dived into the audience as they searched for the missing Nutcracker.

The evening was entertaining but it fell short. Not only was there a relative lack of dance, it wasn’t even replaced by mime. Instead there were long periods when spoken dialogue was used to tell the story. It wasn’t needed. The story was quite straightforward and the company seriously underestimated children’s ability to follow it through dance. Previous BoBo tales have neatly interspersed dance sequences, sometimes taken from other modern dance works, with the young children’s elements and audience participation. Here there really was only two, and they were both quite short. Anyone expecting to hear Tchaikovsky’s music would also have been disappointed, as we only got snippets, although there were some interesting variations on it that were new to me.

All this was a huge shame because the company has some fine dancers and Bulareyaung, who choreographed the dance sequences here, is a fine choreographer. I fear however that this was not the best showcase for their talents. And if one of the aims of the show was to introduce children and families to dance, I question whether this was quite the production to do it.

There's a great article about Cloud Gate's upcoming 'Cursive' shows on Arts Hub. And it's written by Lin Hwai-min himself!!! Go here to read:
http://www.artshub.com.au/au/news.asp?s ... ure&sText=

I'm wondering if anyone has saved a copy of this article. It doesn't seem to be available anymore... and I would really-really like to read it!!! Thanks for your help!..

Herewith the press release for Cloud Gate's forthcoming visit to Sadler's Wells in London:

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan
Wild Cursive
UK PREMIERE
The Final Chapter of Cursive: A Trilogy

Tuesday 19 – Friday 22 June 2007

Performances at 7.30pm
Tickets: £10 - £35
Ticket Office: 0844 412 4300 or www.sadlerswells.com

“Lin Hwai-min has succeeded brilliantly in fusing dance techniques and theatrical concepts from the East and the West.” New York Times

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan present the UK premiere of Wild Cursive at Sadler's Wells for four performances only from Tuesday 19 – Friday 22 June 2007. Wild Cursive is the third and final part of the acclaimed Cursive: A Trilogy, and the result of the company’s long exploration into the ancient practice of movement and spirituality.

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan is renowned for its spellbinding and spiritual performances. According to legend, Cloud Gate is the name of the oldest known ritual dance in China, created over 5,000 years ago. In 1973, Choreographer and Founder Lin Hwai-min adopted this classical name to found Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, who are the first contemporary dance company from any Chinese speaking community. The 24-strong group’s rich repertoire has its roots in Asian myths and folklore but they perform with a contemporary perspective, touring international festivals across the Globe.

Under the direction of Lin Hwai-min, the company has focused upon traditional Chinese body disciplines. Throughout Cursive: A Trilogy, the company has drawn on the essence and aesthetics of the ancient art of Chinese calligraphy, with the dancers embodying the flow of energy embedded in the strokes of the brush and the shades of the ink. As the concluding piece, Wild Cursive explores the idea of spontaneity and ‘wild calligraphy’. Using paper as the only set, the stage is covered in streams of white rice paper that cascade to the floor, before black ink seeps hypnotically from above. Exquisite lighting designed by Chang Tsan-Tao illuminates the transparency of the rice paper and enhances the strength of the flowing black images. Manipulating and dancing between the layers of paper that grow ever darker, the Cloud Gate company display their trademark strength, fluidity, control and mesmerising movement.

Lin Hwai-min has developed a dance style for the company that integrates meditation, Tai Chi Tao Yin (an ancient form of Chi Kung), martial arts and Chinese opera movement with modern dance and ballet. His choreography was last seen at Sadler's Wells within parts of Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan's sublime collaboration Sacred Monsters which premiered at the theatre in 2006 and returned earlier this year.

For a past review of the work from its world premiere season in Taipei in 2005 go to http://www.ballet-dance.com/200512/articles/CloudGate20051121.html. Note that the work was previously known as "Cursive III".

There will be a feature on Lin Hwai-min and the making of Wild Cursive in June's issue of Dancing Times.

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At a reception after the opening night of Wild Cursive at Sadler's Wells, Alistair Spalding (Chief Exective of Sadler's Wells) announced that Cloud Gate will be returning in 2008 with Moon Water, which will also tour to other UK venues.

They are premiering today in Barcelona with Moon Water in the Festival Grec:

http://www.barcelonafestival.com/eng/de ... _of_taiwan

I'm going to see them tomorrow and yesterday I saw the solo Lin Hwai-min created for Sylvie Guillem for Sacred Monsters with Akram Khan who also have been schedulled in this festival.

Both proposals have been sold out in a few days.