Songs of the Wanderers 

I have never seen such a fascinated audience in my entire life, so enthralled by the beauty and the spirituality of a show as to be staying on for another 25 minutes in the most reverent of silences after the curtain had closed and house light had come back on again. 
Le Figaro

The most sublime works of art in any medium contain a unique marriage of the sensual and the spiritual. Think of Michelangelo's sculpture of the Pieta… Stravinsky's score “The Rite of Spring”…. Now, add to this list “Songs of the Wanderers,” a work of wild eroticism, contemplative mystery and ecstatic beauty presented this weekend by Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan.

A 90-minute piece by the masterful choreographer Lin Hwai-min – performed by a company of 20 breathtakingly controlled dancers – it was at once otherworldly and wholly visceral, weaving its spell with incomparable imagery and a dramatic power that encompassed the entire spectrum of sacred and profane existence.     
The Chicago Sun-Times

The lighting and visual design in the work is exceptional and, together with the sound, suspend everyday perceptions of time and space: image after image of the dancers with their gnarled walking sticks caught in the side light, their outlines seared into the black backdrop; massive curtains of saffron rice pouring from the heavens; grand arcs of flung rice, floating then disappearing like fireworks in the sky.
 
The architectures of these images are timeless and the work transcends its content to become a classic in the canon, a marker in theatrical experience, a work that bridges both Eastern and Western sensibilities. When the show ends, the audience remains, mesmerized by the slow raking of a spiral pathway in the rice, the end and another beginning. 
The Australian

It is the spirit behind the dance and production values that makes this work so special. It is reflected in the structure and finely wrought, committed performances to make Songs of the Wanderers thought-provoking and memorable. 
The Sydney Morning Herald

The strongest movement comes from the monk who stands 90 minutes praying, bald-headed in white robes incessantly rained on with rice, which cascades in fountains over his head and folded hands.  The image of the monk becomes a metaphor for an ideal that reaches from East to West, from Brahma into the Christian middle ages, supported by the Georgian chorus. 
Suddeutsche Zeitung 
 
Whatever words of praise one can say about the originality, the plastic beauty, the human strength and, at the same time, the spiritual delicateness of this show, will always be too few. 
JL Lisbon
 
The work moves the audience to tears… . A rousing standing ovation.  
Bergens Tidende

Songs of the Wanderers 

Choreography        
LIN Hwai-min
 
Music            
Georgian Folk Songs  
by Rustavi Choir
 
Lighting Design            
CHANG Tsan-tao
 
Set Design            
Austin WANG
 
Costume Design            
Taurus WAH
 
Props Design         
SZU Chien-hua  YANG Cheng-yung
                
Performed by            
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan            
 
Premiere
November 4, 1994, Taipei, Taiwan
 
Recorded
November 5, 2013, Miaoli County, Taiwan 

Visited venues include
Sadler's Wells, London, England, UK
International Dance Festival Birmingham, England, UK
Dublin Dance Festival, Dublin, Ireland 
Internationale Maifestspiele, Wiesbaden, Germany
Dresdner Musikfestspiele at HELLERAU, Dresden, Germany
Tollwood Festival, Munich, Germany
25th Anniversary Festival, Pina Bausch Tanztheatre Wuppertal, Germany     
International Summer Theatre Festival, Hamburg, Germany
The House of World Cultures, Berlin, Germany
Theater der Stadt, Remscheid, Germany
Lyon Biennale de la Danse, Lyon, France
Quartier d'ete, Paris, France
Stadsschouwburg Antwerpen, Belgium
Cultuurhuis De Warande, Turnhout, Belgium
AT&T Danstheatre, Den Haag, The Netherlands
Stadsschouwburg, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Stadsschouwburg, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Twentse Schouwburg, Enschede, The Netherlands
Stadstheatre, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
De Goudse Schouwburg, Gouda, The Netherlands
Schouwburg, Tilburg, The Netherlands
C. C. De Maaspoort, Venlo, The Netherlands
Schouwburg, Arnhem, The Netherlands
Theater De Flint, Amersfoort, The Netherlands
Københavns Internationale Teater, Copenhagen, Denmark
Bergen International Festival, Bergen, Norway
Lucerne Festival, Lucerne, Switzerland
Chekhov International Theatre Festival, Moscow, Russia
Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre, Tbilisi, Georgia
Tanzsommer Innsbruck, Austria
Ravenna Festival, Italy
International Festival of Villa Adriana, Tivoli, Rome, Italy
Tanec Praha Festival, Prague, Czech Republic 
Athens Festival, Greece 
Next Wave Festival, New York, USA
Keller Auditorium, Oregon, USA
Meany Hall for the Performing Arts, University of Washington, USA
The Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, USA
American Dance Festival, North Carolina, USA
George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
Lied Center Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
Jones Hall, Houston, Texas, USA
University of Texas-Austin Performing Arts Center, Texas, USA
Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, California, USA
Northrop Auditorium, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
Hancher Auditorium Theatre, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
Jacob's Pillow Festival, Massachusetts, USA    
National Arts Centre, Ottawa,  Canada 
Grand Théâtre de Québec, Québec,  Canada
Place des Arts, Montréal,  Canada
Bogotá Biannual Latin American Theatre Festival, Bogotá, Colombia
Caracas International Theatre Festival, Caracas, Venezuela
Teatro Alfa, São Paulo, Brazil
Melbourne Arts Center, Australia
Brisbane Festival, Australia
Adelaide Festival, Adelaide, Australia
Dewan Sri Pinang, Pulau Penang, Malaysia
Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Cultural Centre, Hong Kong
National Center for Performing Arts, Beijing, China
Guangzhou Opera House, Guangzhou, China
Shenzhen Grand Theater, Shenzhen, China 
Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Shanghai, China
Hangzhou Red Star Theater, Hangzhou, China
Wuhan Hubei Theater, China