Cloud Gate Dance Theatre choreographer Lin Hwai-min’s career celebrated after a life dedicated to dance

The Hong Kong Arts Festival kicked off its 47th edition yesterday with a programme honouring a fellow veteran of the Asian arts scene: Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, Taiwan’s premier dance troupe, which was founded the same year as the festival.

The company has been led since its inception by the revered choreographer, writer and designer Lin Hwai-min, who has played a huge role in the introduction and development of contemporary dance in Asia and put Asian dance on the international map.

Why users of US$340 million Hong Kong theatre complex may perform elsewhere

After nearly 50 years at the helm, the 72-year-old Lin steps down as artistic director at the end of this year and this programme looks back over his extraordinary legacy with extracts from some of his most iconic works.

Lin will be succeeded as artistic director by Cheng Tsung-lung, an artist he has mentored and nurtured, so major change is not on the cards for Cloud Gate. However, this farewell tour remains a unmissable opportunity to experience Lin’s inimitable art while the company is still under his leadership.

Lin’s uniquely Chinese style of dance, incorporating elements of qi gong, martial arts and calligraphy as well as contemporary dance and ballet, has won acclaim from audiences and critics worldwide.

The influence of calligraphy, in particular, can be seen in the continuous flow of movement, powerful accents and the convoluted shapes into which the dancers’ bodies freeze. This was at its most specific in the programme’s Cursive trilogy, Lin’s tribute to this great Chinese art form.

The characters are “written” by the dancers’ bodies and, in the stunning “Thousand Characters” sequence, projected onto their bare skin on a darkened stage, creating dazzling effects as the words seem to come alive as the dancers jump and spin. The choreography was extremely distinctive and immediately recognisable, with frequent use of slow motion punctuated by sudden acrobatic jumps, long-held balances, and jagged poses with arms and hands held at angles and bent-legged arabesques.

Nonetheless, striking and often beautiful though it may be, the choreography lacked variety and became repetitive. Rather like eating a succession of dishes with the same two or three strong flavours, it’s delicious at first, but after a while you begin to crave something that tastes a bit different.

The second half of the programme is more diverse than the first. While the choreographic vocabulary is much the same, it’s employed in a wider range of moods and subjects.

Three scenes from How Can I Live On Without You offered vignettes of young love set to lively Mando-pop songs. As well as bringing a touch of humour to a largely intense evening, these give the dancers the chance to show some personality in a repertoire where the emphasis is firmly on the ensemble.

A complex, sexually explicit duet from Rice had a sculptural quality reminiscent of erotic carvings from Indian temples.

The most unusual piece is Black Angel from Wind Shadow, a collaboration with renowned artist Cai Guoqiang that looked like something out of a very dark manga and features Cai’s obsession with gunpowder.

Reviewed: February 21

45th Anniversary Gala Programme: Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre. Performances continue on February 22 and 23 at 8.15pm and February 24 at 2.00pm