Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan at the Cloud Gate Sculpture in Chicago's Millennium Park, photo by Phil Reynolds

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan

October 28 & 29, 2011 * 8:00 p.m.

Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park
205 E. Randolph Drive
HarrisTheaterChicago.org

"An extraordinarily exciting, brutishly physcial contemporary dance company." - San Francisco Examiner

Critics have raved about the virtuosity of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan’s dancers, claiming they “possess a control and articulation that verge on the superhuman” (Chicago Sun-Times). Trained in chi kung, meditation, internal martial arts, Chinese opera, modern dance and ballet, the company performs a rich repertoire with roots in Asian myths, folklore and aesthetics, infused with a contemporary perspective. Set to music by composer Toshio Hosokawa using traditional Asian instruments, Lin Hwai-min’s newest work, Water Stains on the Wall, is performed on a white raked stage (evoking rice paper) containing projected images of drifting clouds in varying degrees of blackness. Like flowing ink, the projections create spaces that are constantly shifting, reminiscent of Chinese classical landscape painting. The dancers give the illusion of clouds and water as their light skirts are frequently “dyed” black by the projected shadows and reappear in shining white light. Suggesting a long process of natural evolution, “water stains on the wall” is a popular Chinese metaphor representing the highest state in the aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy.

CLICK HERE to read Deborah Jowitt's DanceBeat preview of Water Stains on the Wall

Other Events

DanceMasters class taught by company member SU I-ping

Monday, October 24, 2011 * 6:00 - 8:00p.m.

The Dance Center Theater, 1306 South Michigan Avenue

Ms. SU I-ping, a senior dancer of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, will lead the DanceMasters class that employs some of Cloud Gate's training elements, including Chinese martial arts, Chi Kung (from the principles of Tai Chi Dao Yin) and contemporary dance technique to explore the range from moving to moving in meditation.

This class is open for public observation, $5.00.

Pre-Performance Talks with Lin Hwai-min

Friday & Saturday, October 28 & 29, 2011 * 7:00 p.m.

Limited seating. Open to ticket holders.

FamilyDance Matinee at The Dance Center

Saturday, October 29, 2011 * 3:00 p.m.

Download High Resolution Photos

The Dance Center's presentation of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan is funded, in part, by the Alphawood Foundation. Special thanks to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago.