Rituals & Rhythms; Resonance & Re-connection

Cinema introduced me to the world of contemporary dance via the films of Wim Wenders, who made the 3D documentary Pina (2011), about German dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch, and Daniel Manivel’s Isadora’s Children (2019), about pioneering American dancer Isadora Duncan. Despite both films’ compelling presentations of both dancers’ lives, I never really explored further reading on the field or watch more videos on contemporary dance performances. I encountered Duncan’s name again in Jacques Ranciere’s Modern Times, a compilation of his lectures on the concept of modernity as seen through the prism of dance (now I have to read it again!) and cinema, particularly through Dziga Vertov’s Man With a Movie Camera (1929).

Naturally, I turned to cinema while reflecting-in-progress Cloud Gate Dance Company’s piece Sounding Light, performed at the Cloud Gate Theatre as part of Taiwan Week ‘25/Taiwan International Festival of the Arts. It was first performed in 2020 at the National Theater, a reflection of the experience of isolation by its artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung. The exquisite production is enhanced by an elegant lighting design where light is seemingly distilled by imaginary clouds, and further elevated by the dancers’ skillful mimicry of nature and animal sounds. A rhythm of hand claps and finger snaps crescendoes into a sonic high as dancers combine both movement and voice to create a ritualistic chant. A forest has awakened, the body reconnected with nature, returns to its cradle. In a way there is a viscerality and vulnerability that is akin to a cinema experience, but through this live performance— scanning the space as the dancers disperse and re-assemble, individualize and collectivize, not wanting to miss a part of its choreography—I realize that I am re-attuning my own disordered attention.

It’s hard not to sound enamored with excitement when talking about it. After all, it’s my first (another first!) live contemporary dance performance. I asked ArtsEquator fellow Bilqis from Malaysia who writes about dance about the proper way to approach a critique on dance and was assured that I have to enjoy the experience of seeing the movements first (I had a lot of questions obviously!). I also asked AE fellow Pauline from the Philippines if there is a similar group in Manila who performs contemporary dance like Cloud Gate. None at this level. The calibre of CG’s performance is unsurprising given the group’s remarkable history and reputation in the field. When Kathy and Yuni (ArtsEquator’s CEO and Executive Director) learned this is my first experience of such a performance, they told me that the bar has already been set high. Well, given an absence of performance art in Davao, I highly doubt I will be seeing anything like this soon, which I think I’m pretty okay with. I want this to linger for a while.

Before Sounding Light, we saw a truncated version of Lingering by Bare Feet Dance Theater at the National Theater, which is also grounded on rituals, this time inspired by Javanese Dance. The piece is performed by three dancers, and two musicians/sound artists, who are also visible in the stage/space. It begins with clips from a documentary about the group’s residency in Java. Similarly, the motif of unraveling and reconnection, of a return to nature in shades of violence and grace, resonates strongly with Light. The piece’s Indonesian origins is evident in the ornate hand movements but also with the underpinning archipelagic themes similar to Taiwan’s history of migrations and artistic movements, the sense of death the ocean proffers.

This brings me to today’s opening activity: an artist pitch and presentation of five (5) work-in-progress/scheduled performances which are diverse in approach but also dealt with themes that the actual performances in the two different venues embody. Tjimur Dance Theater’s “Xaiwan Utopia” is worth mentioning because of its clever title, a play on the usage of X’s duality or multiplicity, this time to indicate both the presence of Taiwan as homeland and Paiwan, the indigenous peoples in South Taiwan. It reminded me of the indigenous groups in Mindanao, whose dances and songs never transcend glossy tourism into something that is being celebrated as art, like the Paiwan’s. The project A Seance of K and Ponti obviously would appeal to me—a multi-media, live cinema performance, something that I think is not yet practiced in the Philippines (or maybe I’m not yet exposed to). Based on the presentation, it’s a layered exploration of the intersectionality of identity, myth and history, three themes that resonate strongly throughout today’s presentations and provided a sense of reconnection to personal histories as well.

The ArtsEquator Fellowship Critics Network is made possible with the support of Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia.