The Cloud Gate Theatre, Taipeh 
The Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, Taipeh 
performed at the Sommertheater-Festival Hamburg 1997 in August 1997. For three days they gave us the chance to encounter a very special event: Songs of the Wanderers
 
This was the most beautiful and impressing theatre performance I ever saw. 
Breathtaking beauty, silence, no pretention: live as it is: an endless stream of pilgrimage. 
The dancers follow the stations of endless pilgrimage, while a young monk is standing motionless at the left. Wheat corns drop down constantly on his arms, his head, he doesn't shake.
3.5 tons of golden corn form an everchanging landscape, drop down like a curtain, a small stream first - than a big river. 
Songs of the Wanderers 
 

This touched me in a very strong way and I am glad that I had the chance to be there. 

While the dancers are on their way, a man combs the wheat corn and after their disappearance he continues his labor: like a farmer cultivating the soil, he forms the corn to a golden spiral: 
infinity 
 
Later I tried to collect my impressions: I compared the movements of the dancers with the movements of creatures which survived some unknown eruptions, I tried to discuss the use of music (georgian folk songs in a south-asian culture-sphere), but then I decided: this is one of the few treasures of art which you must not discuss. It gives you calm, beauty, horror, silence and a satisfied heart. 
Lin Hwai-min 
Lin Hwai-min, the choreographer.

 You can find more information on Cloud Gate Dance Theatre at <http://sinanet.com/bay/cloud>
Information: this link was no longer valid in December 98

One last remark: I wrote, that this was the most impressing performance I ever saw. I want to clear out my judgement: There were two really great theatre evenings for me in my life which I don't want to miss: The first one was the dance theatre «Versii» by Lev Shulman and his dance company in Ekaterinburg, which was accompanied by the music of Arved Terteryan, in Ekaterinburg 1992, and the second one was «Songs of the Wanderers» 

Both pieces present live and love in an eternal, pure and essential way. 

All photos, except those showing the sand and the man, forming the sand, are press photos. The others: Cornelie Müller-Gödecke 

back

This Site's URL: http://www.avantart.com