One is a Buddhist proverb:

“Flowers in a mirror and moon on the water are both illusory.”

The other describes the ideal state of Tai Chi practitioners:

“Energy flows as water, while the spirit shines as the moon.”

The choreographer takes these famous quotes as a springboard to create a poetic rendering of the Taoist philosophy.

Moon Water is a study of the real vs. the unreal, effort vs. effortlessness, yin and yang, and in the end, a study of time.

Music from Six Suites for Solo Cello performed by Mischa Maisky used with permission from the copyright owner Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft GmbH

To the Chinese, Moon Water, or Suei Yuei, in Chinese, is a metaphor of two things. One is a Buddhist proverb: “Flowers in a mirror and moon on the water are both illusory.” The other describes the ideal state of Tai Chi practitioners: “Energy flows as water, while the spirit shines as the moon.”

The choreographer LIN Hwai-min takes these famous quotes as a springboard to create a poetic rendering of the Taoist philosophy. It is a study of the real vs. the unreal, effort vs. effortlessness, Yin and Yang, and in the end, a study of time.

A black and white production, the stage floor of Moon Water is covered by black marleys with white brush strokes reminiscent of ripples, while mirrors hung in midair and upstage reflecting the dancers in white billowy costumes. Towards the end, water seeps onto the stage, and the wall of mirror reflects the water and the soaked dancing bodies. “The entire stage is transformed into a mirrored cabinet. Reality and appearance melt inseparably into each other. In an unforgettable final image, the dancers seem to move as though on clouds in a celestial landscape—magically removed from all worldliness.” (Ballet International)

Moon Water owes its movement motives to Tai Chi Tao Yin, a Chi Kungexercise that can be traced back to more than 2000 years ago. The choreographer “has extended and transformed the movement of tai chi exercises into an expressive dance vocabulary.” (The New York Times) “The grace of it, in a way, is balletic, but its evasion of the norms of gravity, its total fluidity, suggests that there is a new book of the human dancing body waiting to be written with t'ai chi training.” (The Daily Telegraph) “No company in the world dances like Cloud Gate,” acclaims Dance Europe. “Moon Water presents a distinct and mature Chinese choreographic language. The importance of this evolution in Asian dance is no less profound than the impact of Forsythe's Ballett Frankfurt on European classical ballet.”

The most surprising element of Moon Water is its choice of music. LIN Hwai-min syncretizes this contemporary work to J. S. Bach's Six Suites for Solo Cello recorded by Russian cellist Mischa Maisky. The dancers, describes The Times, “rather than merely duplicating Bach's tempi and tones, they reach inside his music from the core of their own bodies.” Ballet International marvels that “Bach’s cello suites and Lin Hwai-min's Tai Chi blend together as if they had waited for each other for hundreds of years.”

“Mr. Lin has accomplished what creative artists rarely succeed in doing today: challenging the audience with a work unlike any other,” says The New York Times. “Moon Water is not about meditation but is a meditation in itself.”