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Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan

Taiwan's premier contemporary dance company Cloud Gate Dance Theatre performs the full-length Moon Water, a beautiful, meditative, and magical work that's "one of their very finest pieces" (The Telegraph).

Jan 29 - 30, 2010
Eisenhower Theater
$22.00 - $65.00

About the Program

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan
Lin Hwai-min, Founder and Artistic Director

Moon Water

"A dream of a show, one of the most ravishing things I've seen in a theatre, an experience of beauty"
--The Daily Telegraph

"Moon Water is not about meditation but is a meditation in itself."
--The New York Times

According to legend, Cloud Gate is the name of the oldest known dance in China, a ritual 5,000 years old. Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, founded in 1973 by choreographer Lin Hwai-min as the first contemporary dance company in any Chinese-speaking community, blends its roots in Asian mythology, folklore, and aesthetics with a modern sensibility. Dancers practice and perform using such diverse movement disciplines and artistic approaches as tai chi, meditation, martial arts, modern dance, and ballet.

Returning to the Kennedy Center for the first time since 1995, Cloud Gate performs Lin Hwai-min's meditative, tai chi–inspired Moon Water. On a black stage with white brush strokes reminiscent of ripples, mirrors suspended in midair reflect the dancers in white billowy costumes. Water seeps onto the stage and creates "one of the most beautiful moments…one hears only the water ripple over the edge of the apron" (Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin). Danced to music from Bach's Six Suites for Solo Cello recorded by Mischa Maisky, Moon Water is a metaphor of a Buddhist proverb: "Flowers in a mirror and moon on the water are both illusory." Its movements describe the ideal state of tai chi practitioners: "Energy flows as water, while the spirit shines as the moon."

Explore the Arts: Post-performance discussion on Friday, January 29, FREE with your performance ticket.

International Programming at the Kennedy Center is supported by the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts.

All events and artists subject to change without prior notice.

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