Wind Shadow 风‧影
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan (Taiwan)云门舞集
A stunning dance performance staged by one of Asia’s top contemporary dance companies Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Wind Shadow is a groundbreaking collaboration between revered choreographer Lin Hwai-Min and internationally renowned Chinese visual artist Cai Guo-Qiang.
An experimental fusion of installation art and dance, Wind Shadow carries you to a world of changing shadows where dancers take turns playing humans as well as their shadows. Wind Shadow is meticulously conceived to replicate natural wind movements such as launching kites and fluttering angelic wings. Displaying total submission to the theme, performers dance with an ephemeral lightness, seemingly controlled by the wind and fluidly blending with the ‘shadows’.
Cai’s stunning gunpowder drawings and artworks of explosions are projected via video through fluttering flags, forming a contrasting backdrop for the dancers as they turn into wandering ‘shadows’. Against a haunting soundtrack, the landscape changes abruptly into an apocalyptic showdown with sulphur-lit smoke, fire, black ‘snowflakes’ and even a black rainbow. In a scene evocative of a nuclear holocaust, a ‘Black Hole’ forms on stage, engulfing the dancers in a tunnel of darkness.
I couldn't describe it better so I took the above description from their website. As a personal experience, it was stunning visually although the theme can be scary at times. As we explore the relationship we have with our 'shadows'. And when our 'shadows' take over our lives. Asian arts has been described as intellectual by a foreign friend of mine. I guess that is true after all. Perhaps we all need to make sure we control our 'shadows' rather than let it take over us.
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