On Saturday night I went along to see Cloud Gate 2‘s young choreographer showcase ‘Spring Riot’.
Four different choreographers making works on some of the very talented dancers from Cloud Gate. As I understand it Cloud Gate 2 is the companies local research arm, giving younger dancers and makers the chance to do stuff while the main company jets off overseas performing at international arts festivals. I first became aware of Cloud Gate back in 2003 when they brought Cursive II to the Melbourne International Arts Festival. They are described as ‘the first modern dance company in Asia’ and the level of touring they have done cements them as one of the most important companies in the region.
When I was in Taiwan in 2006, the talk about Cloud Gate was almost non-existent – as if their status was so massive within the dance scene that they were the stratosphere that everyone aspired to but few reached. The idea that you could forge your own career in dance and not rely on those few choreographers that held the reins at Cloud Gate or at Taipei Dance Forum seemed unknown. I don’t know what it is like now, probably very different, but I digress…
I am always interested in the idea that dance can be universal – with a lack of language is it possible to read a work no matter where you come from?
The works were varied in style and form, but I would say that three of them would have stood up in the Australian contemporary dance scene quite well. The fourth would have played very well in Europe as it reminded me of a Le Coq or Genty type experience.
The first work that was shown was a 
piece choreographed on two duets that revolved around a quartet of machines that were built to play a quartet of string instruments (see picture).
As usual with these sorts of premises, the dancers danced around the objects in beautiful yet unconnected sequences.
The more interesting moment came when I green laser beamed off into the audience at an angle to the stage and the performers started to play with it by breaking the line of the beam. This was then programmed to play one of the instruments, so in a way the dancers were creating the sound. Whilst not completely fascinating, it did create a sustained connection between machine/technology and the dancer/body.
What was more interesting for me is that this student choreographer and technical collaborator managed to put together an experience that was entirely more ‘connected’ than the Chunky Move piece Connected that I saw a couple of weeks ago. Connected featured a very clunky collaborative process between body and machine. The work made me feel so cold and distanced from the performers as if I was a voyeur on a series of actions that I had no connection to. In opposition to this the Cloud Gate 2 piece there was an elegance and a considered emotional intelligence that went into the construction of the work that left me with some sort of investment.
The other work that I was interested in was The Wall.
As the dancers entered from the upstage wing one after the other in step until they formed a perfect square, the simplicity of use of space of patterning reminded me of what Michel Gondry said about choreography when talking about his treatment of Daft Punk’s Around The World -
“This was my first try to do choreography and I was sick to see choreography being mistreated in videos like filler with fast cutting and fast editing, really shallow, I don’t think choreography should be shot in close-ups.”
He also goes on to explain that he sees choreography as pattern, space and shape.
This was what this piece was about – it used every dancer we had seen so far in the program and used marching patterns, lines and the whole space to create an incredibly dense experience for the audience. I really do relish in the opportunity to see so many performers in one space dedicated to the simplicity of pattern.
In between each stage changeover there was a chat by the choreographer of the upcoming or just happened piece which was in mandarin but I appreciated the idea, it simultaneously formalised and informalised the presentation of works as you saw techs rip up tarquette and take away objects.
It made me think about Australian dance companies and why the big ones don’t have second companies? It is probably money – it usually is with these things. What would it be like to have Chunky Move 2 or something similar where there are dancers working and the second tier of choreographers get a chance to make work on a group. This happens at university but how about for those dancers beyond uni and those choreographers below the top level?
This is pie in the sky stuff really but imagine if those dancers on the edge of breaking through were able to dance in an environment that was supportive but also with the best choreographers?
