Cursive II is a sequel to the magnificent Cursive of 2001, both works of the celebrated Taiwanese dancer and choreographer Lin Hwai-min. Lin has surprised many by using John Cage's compositions for the soundscape. Simple and pure string music from the Western avant-garde master – himself also a student of Zen Buddhism – engages in a beautiful dialogue with movements developed from Eastern age-old traditional body disciplines. This performance of the ensemble Cloudgate Dance Theater of Taiwan translates the lighter nuances of Chinese calligraphy into stunning dance interpretations, recorded at the Cloudgate Dance Theatre in Geneva in autumn 2005.
Cursive II is a masterpiece by Lin Hwai-min choreographer of the highly acclaimed Moon Water and Bamboo Dream. Inspired by the aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy, this work is both commanding and seductive. The superb Cloud Gate dancers, trained in meditation, Chi-Kung and martial arts, touch you with original movements, fierce as striking thunder or soft as flowing ink on rice paper. The complexity of energy is further enhanced by the music of John Cage, while the blown-up images of ‘ice crackles' from Sung porcelain shimmer with delicate beauty. This production exquisitely filmed by dance expert Ross MacGibbon captures the meditative aura of the dance.
“An exquisite exercise in the balancing of opposites, presented in an aura of uncluttered simplicity…The dancers perform with a palpable intensity…More than just a display, it is also a spiritual exercise.” (The Age)
“The work is so visually simple and entrancing that there is no choice but to enter the meditative world of the dance.” (Sunday Herald Sun)