Choreography: Lin Hwai-min
Music: John Cage

On 1 April 2006 Opus Arte released on DVD Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan’s compelling and seductive production of Cursive II, winner of the Age Critics’ Award & Patrons Award at the 2003 Melbourne International Arts Festival.

Founded in 1973, Cloud Gate was the first contemporary dance company in the Chinese-speaking world. The award-winning company have many acclaimed performances to their name including Bamboo Dream (2001), Moon Water (1998) and Smoke (2002). Cloud Gate is the name of the oldest form of Chinese dance that is said to have existed as long as 5000 years ago and the company bases it work, like its name, on ancient traditions with emphasis on both physical and spiritual development.

Hailed as the most important choreographer in Asia, and described by himself as a ‘generator of energy’, Lin Hwai-min uses the martial art movements of Tai Chi and Chi-Kung alongside his familiar, more modern dance idiom in order to create exquisite lines that emulate the brushstrokes and musical energy that the old Chinese masters used in their calligraphy.

The Buddhist ideas of enlightenment and wholeness are explored by both movement and music. John Cage’s music, carefully selected by Lin Hwai-min, mixes instrumental music with sounds extracted directly from nature and completes the production’s endeavour to offer an extraordinary blend between the music and the constant flow of movement on stage. The minimalist sets depict enlarged details of hair-line cracks in the glazing of Sung Dynasty porcelain, and are highlighted by striking costumes in monochrome tones once again imitating the ancient calligrapher’s own dance movements with his brush.

Recorded with a single High Definition camera over 9 days, without the presence of an audience, dance specialist director Ross MacGibbon captured this masterwork in commanding style, forging a seamless, unique visual experience.
This stunning disc also features ‘Dragon Flying and Phoenix Dancing’ – an introduction to Cursive II with the choreographer, together with a 60 minute documentary ‘Floating on the ground’ portraying Lin Hwai-min with insights into the company, production, dancers and creative crew.

‘When you’re talking about Cloud Gate, magic is not too strong a word.’
(Time Out)

‘Cursive II defines the beauty and poesy of dance… It is of a disturbingly, almost achingly painful beauty.’ (Ballet International)

CURSIVE II - Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan
Choreography: Lin Hwai-min
Music: John Cage
All regions / Running time: 147 minutes
Picture format: 16:9 Anamorphic
Sound format: DTS Surround, LPCM Stereo
Subtitles: EN/FR/DE/ES/IT (Extra features only)