Catch and Throw
Catch and Throw
by How Ngean Lim, dance dramaturg and founding director of Asian Dramaturgs’ Network
What does it mean for a young artist who is carving out a personal signature, a style, their way of creating and expressing? To stand out from the crowd of performative noise, to offer a unique point of view, to not jump on the bandwagon of technology trend of AI, of visual bombast, of complex intellectualism, that may just lead to muddled presentation?
Simplicity and creativity can become powerful tools in clear and precise thinking and intuition that in turn lead to richness in creativity. Fledgling choreographer Lin Pin-Shuo’s choreographic idea seeded by his curiosity of watching a ball relenting to gravity. Too basic of a creative idea? Too simple for dance presentation?
Lin’s thinking is anything but dull. What if we turn to the laws of physics and even Newton’s principals of mass and motion. Dance has always been a study of time and space, but contemporary dance legend Merce Cunningham reminds us:
“… one of the best discoveries the modern dance has made use of is the gravity of the body in weight, that is, as opposite from denying (and thus affirming) gravity by ascent into the air, the weight of the body in going with gravity, down."
Why not apply Newton’s laws with regards to dance? After all, dance is the result of movement, mass (weight) and gravity…
Newton’s First Law: Inertia
An object at rest remains at rest, an object in motion remains in motion at constant speed and in a straight line. Unless acted on by an unbalanced force.
> The artistic impulse cannot stay at rest, the dance in motion should only come to a halt to make a statement.
Lin invites us into his study of the falling ball: bouncing the ball off the ground, off a surface. This state of resisting change – to keep the ball bouncing – becomes Lin’s fundamental impulse for movement.
Certain choices made determine the course of his movement(s). The element of space in all its dimensions and planes, from the very vertical to the horizontal, allows Lin to take his movement to new lines of creative motion. With minimal energy on certain points of his body, he rocks side to side, back to front, to a state of slight imbalance. He urges us to follow him from stillness to movement, hinting at the very beginning of dance.
Catch and Throw｜Photo by CHEN You-wei
Newton’s 2nd Law: Force
The acceleration of an object depends on the mass of the object and the amount of force applied.
> Decision-making can be key to creativity and expressivity.
Surely the dance piece cannot be about a bouncing ball, no? Lin is poised to engage us further where multiplicities of forces on the different angles result in the body in movement: the choreography of the piece! It is now the dancemaker’s decision making that pushes the potentiality of the dance to new heights and even better to alternative perspectives.
Lin’s body, is at the mercy his kinetic energy that flows. His torso, his legs, his hands, his toes, his fingers act and react. These reactions build the dance composition in front of our very eyes.
His embodiment of yielding, resisting and playing with gravity, he responds with states of emotions emerge generated by his physicality. The body in motion and rest also expresses affects. The quickening or slowing of Lin’s breaths, his vocalisations brought on by the way he moves, or even the bodily slaps, jumps and thuds, they all produce affects. This in turn takes the audience on an emotional journey. Act physically. React emotionally.
Catch and Throw｜Photo by CHEN You-wei
Newton’s 3rd Law: Action & Reaction
Whenever an object exerts force on another object, the other object will exert an equal and opposite force on the first object.
> Introduce a dance partner … work together with the physical laws and see where it takes you.
Lin is also joined by a dance partner, introducing new relationships to time, space and movement. As the duo explores and investigates what they can do to each other, testing strength, speed, agility, the audience is drawn to a new relationship forming.
Physical expressivity is multiplied exponentially but so do emotions. The audience is taken on a narrative of two people on a physical journey that becomes the embodiment of human relationships: support, opposition, synchronicity, counterpoint, strength, fragility.
Catch and Throw｜Photo by CHEN You-wei
Spring Riot 2026
She, Adorned by Her Own Body — Baru Madiljin
FATIGUE — Viktor Szeri
Catch and Throw — LIN Pin-shuo
Time
2026.6.6 Sat 14:00 19:00
2026.6.7 Sun 14:00