Part I of Cursive: A Trilogy

Cursive

Best Choreography of 2006   Critics poll by Theaterheute and Ballettanz

Cursive affirmed the glory of beauty itself.

The production was the opening attraction of this summer's annual American Dance Festival, and the festivities could not have gotten off to a lovelier start…

Theatrical magic…Just as skilled calligraphers can make their brushes seem to dance on a page, so the stage became a page for the dancers… the entire stage became a gigantic scroll. Multitudes of calligraphic signs flooded the floor, the stage walls and even the proscenium arch. Calligraphic designs also flashed on the dancers' bodies as they moved. Dancing and calligraphy merged here into a single art of motion. 

But Cursive was more than a display of technological wizardry. The dance steps were varied and impressive. There were slow meditative bendings and stretching as well as moments when arms seemed to be writing words in the air with jagged or flowing gestures. Dancers also heartily ran and tumbled. At other times they skimmed with the utmost lightness and delicacy. Throughout Cursive the dancers gave the impression that they were luxuriating in the sheer joy of movement.

Dance and calligraphy proclaimed messages throughout the work. Yet a knowledge of foreign languages was not necessary to understand them.
The New York Times

What an undertaking: without imitating the flow of the paintbrush through dance, without having the body track the long dried-out script, without just tracing the sense of drawing, he creates an erotic connection between the body of a drawn symbol and the body of a dancer.
Out of the silent strength of their improvisation-like movements, the dancers conjure an unbelievable technical ability that, immersed in the classically strong lighting of designer Chang Tsan-tao, becomes an optical entrapment. Not one second do you turn your head from the scene.
Süddeutsche Zeitung

The 19 dancers of the Cloud Gate company possess a control and articulation that verge on the superhuman. These are performers who can make stillness every bit as eloquent as animation. In fact, they have the power to change your metabolism.  
Chicago Sun-Times

Breathtaking…Lin has extrapolated the Chinese movement philosophy and translated it into a wonderful artistic language. The way the lines flows into one another in the ensemble scenes, the way the energy flies in all directions before pulling together – it is all of great visual beauty. The Cloud Gate dancers understand how to coordinate body and spirit like a good calligrapher.

Lin Hwai-min demonstrates a dance-like meditation and to behold this dance is to undergo a wonderful act of contemplation.
Der Tagesspiegel

It was ravishing! The choreography struck the audience with its aesthetic, tenderness and beauty… And for so much perfection, the Taiwanese received thunderous applause.    
Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung 

In his native Taiwan and in much of the rest of the world, Lin has been a large presence in dance… He's up there with the best in the world.
Durham News & Observer

Cursive

Choreography              
LIN Hwai-min

Music
Qu Xiao-song   commissioned by Quanta Culture & Education Foundation

Set / Image Design     
Lin Keh-hua

Lighting Design           
Chang Tsan-tao

Costume Design          
Lin Ching-ju

Calligraphy                  
Tong Yang-tze

Performed by            
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan            

Premiere
December 1, 2001, Taipei, Taiwan

Recorded
September 6, 2009, Taipei, Taiwan

Visited venues include
American Dance Festival, North Carolina, USA
Northrop Auditorium, University of Minnesota, USA
Hancher Auditorium Theatre, University of Iowa, USA
Auditorium Theater, Chicago, USA
Chekhov International Theatre Festival, Moscow, Russia
Movimentos Festwochen der Autostadt in Wolfsburg, Germany
Internationale Maifestspiele, Wiesbaden, Germany
In Transit Festival, Berlin, Germany
Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, Weimar, Germany
Festspielhaus St. Pölten, St. Pölten, Austria
Nuovo Teatro Comunale di Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy
Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, Australia
Shinjuku Bunka Centre, Tokyo, Japan
Seoul Arts Centre, Seoul, Korea
Esplanade Theatre, Huayi Festival, Singapore
Hong Kong Arts Festival
National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing, China
Shanghai Oriental Art Center, China
Shenzhen Grand Theater, China
Suzhou Science and Cultural Arts Center, China
International Arts Festival, Sofitel Theatre, Xian, China
Hangzhou Redstar Culture Theater, China

Music is used by arrangement with Peermusic Taiwan LTD.