Taiwan's Lin Hwai-min to present 'Rice'

A scene from Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s “Rice” / Courtesy of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Taiwanese choreographer Lin Hwai-min brought his troupe Cloud Gate Dance Theatre to present a monumental dance piece "Rice," the crop that defines life and culture across Asia and represents the theme of humanity and nature.

Staged at LG Arts Center in southern Seoul on Friday and Saturday, "Rice" premiered in 2013 celebrating the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's 40th anniversary and was staged in the United Kingdom, Germany and Singapore before heading to Korea.

Rice is obviously the most important crop in Korea and many other Asian countries, including Lin's home Taiwan, and it inspired the 68-year-old choreographer to go back to his roots.

"I live in Taiwan," Lin said during a press conference at LG Arts Center, Wednesday. "People define my work as contemporary Asian dance. I am not a museum. I dance and choreograph what I feel now in Taiwan."

Lin Hwai-min of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan explains his work “Rice” to Korean media during a press conference at LG Arts Center in southern Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of LG Arts Center

The choreographer said he took inspiration during his visit to the Chishang region, the granary of Taiwan. "Chishang is known for its rice fields with ears of rice swaying endlessly. I was inspired from the beautiful landscape and the farmers who fought against the installation of high-tension wires to protect the town," Lin said.

Lin and his troupe stayed in the town to observe water in the rice paddies, waving rice plants and the golden rice fields to express different movements in the language of dance.

"To the world, the dance might seem like a tribute to the circulation cycle of rice, but inside it refers to human life, which is parallel to rice," Lin said.

Rice has been an important object in Lin's previous works, including "Song of the Wanderers" in which he poured 3.5 tons of rice grains as a part of the set.

Though the dance piece began from Asian rice, Lin believes that his work can reach Western audiences as well. "Sometimes they grasp unintended significance from my dance. For instance, in Taiwan, we set the rice field on fire after harvest to make the ground dry. However, Russian audiences related this scene to protection of the environment," Lin said.

"Rice" features a variety of music, from Taiwanese folk songs mostly sung by farmers to Austrian late-Romantic composer Gustav Mahler's music. "The distinction of the East and the West is pointless. We drink espresso one day and Oriental tea another. This is the life we live and neither the East nor the West is exotic anymore. I try to understand the context instead," the choreographer said.

Lin was a writer in his earlier years, before dedicating himself to dance and founding Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, the first dance company in Greater China in 1973.

"Western dance resists gravity as dancers jump in pointed shoes. But Asian dance goes the opposite direction," Lin said referring to his experience in Korea.

Lin was in Korea in 1974 to learn a variety of Asian dance in the way to perfect his own choreography and studied under Korean dance masters Kim Cheon-heung of court dance and Han Young-sook of "seungmu" (Buddhist dance).

"Korean traditional dance has slow movements and it was difficult for me then, trained as I was in Western ways. Now I understand that I learned not only dance but slow breathing in Korea, which is engrained in me."

Tickets cost 30,000 to 70,000 won. For more information, visit www.lgart.com or call (02) 2005-0114.