"It's not time to talk about 'leaving'. I will come back in the autumn! "When I met Lin Huaimin at the Oriental Art Center in March, the topic inevitably talked about the upcoming parting intersection. At the end of 2017, Lin Huaimin announced in an open letter that he would retire at the end of 2019, and from 2020, Zheng Zonglong, the current artistic director of Cloud Gate 2, would take over the Cloud Gate Dance Collection. In the face of the reporter's question of "do you want to talk about retirement", Lin Huaimin cheerfully previewed the new work in half a year, "Is it interesting for Yunmen to perform Tao Ye's works, and 'Tao Body' to play the choreography of Zheng Zonglong (the successor of the Yunmen dance set)?" ”
"Exchange Works" - On the occasion of farewell, Lin Huaimin's last set of works for the Cloud Gate Dance Collection was unexpected and also aroused people's reverie. In the past, Yunmen performed Lin Huaimin's works, and this time, they will exchange choreographers with the Tao Body Theatre, which was praised by the London Times as "a strong new force in China's contemporary dance world". The duo, which debuted on the Dongyi Stage from November 7 to 10, includes "12" written by Tao Ye for Yunmen dancers, "Multiplication" by Zheng Zonglong for Tao body dancers, and "Autumn Water" by Lin Huaimin for veteran yunmen dancers.
Cloud Gate Dance Set has been working closely with Shanghai Dongyi for more than 10 years. Since 2009," Cloud Gate has brought new works to visit almost every year, followed by "Song of the Wanderer", "Nine Songs", "Song Smoke", "Water Moon", "Daohe", etc., until this spring's "White Water" and "Dust", this stage has witnessed the development, integration and innovation of Cloud Gate Dance Collection in Shanghai. What kind of surprises will the new "Exchange" bring? It is undoubtedly expected by all audiences who pay attention to cloud gate dance collections and Chinese contemporary dance.
See the new atmosphere of Chinese modern dance
"Exchange Works" originated from a small talk between Tao Ye and Zheng Zonglong, and the concept of "exchange choreography" between the two dance troupes was conceived and grown in a state of mind similar to reverie.
Born in Wanhua, Taipei, Zheng Zonglong was born in 1977, joined the Cloud Gate Dance Collection as a dancer in 2002 and took over as the artistic director of Cloud Gate 2 in 2014. Born in Chongqing, Tao Ye was born in 1985 and has worked as a dancer in the Shanghai Armed Police Political Department Cultural and Labor Troupe, the Venus Dance Troupe and the Beijing Modern Dance Troupe, and founded the "Tao Body Theater" in 2008 as an artistic director and choreographer. "Exchange choreography" is the proposition of "mutual leverage" promised by two young choreographers who have laid a new ground in the industry: let each other develop ideas under different time and space issues, let themselves break the established comfort zone, and discover a new growth in the uncertainty.
This bold proposal was endorsed and appreciated by Lin Huaimin, and he even gladly said that he wanted to "join it." Zheng Zonglong's fierce and wild nature, met the tenacious knot of Tao Ye, the sharp creativity of the two young choreographers, and the calm and quiet of Lin Huaimin did the same dialogue, forming a brilliant intertextual exchange of master yili.
Lin Huaimin (center), Zheng Zonglong (right), Tao Ye, Liu Zhenxiang
"12" is the answer sheet handed over by Tao Ye. He collaborated with 12 Cloud Gate dancers to challenge the bodies of Cloud Gate dancers with inspiration from seeing the flowing clouds on the top of a Swedish hill to complete this work named after the number of dancers. The training of Tao's body allows Cloud Gate dancers to use many muscles that are rarely touched, and their bodies are sore. Cloud Gate dancers who meet the challenge describe that "12" opens up the consciousness of the body, finds the limits of the body, and takes you to places you have never been. The operation of the tao body to the body is the physical performance of the dancer, which can be invisible and full of flow like water, presenting different artistic conceptions for the same art through different bodies, and the "cloud" of the Cloud Gate Dance Set is the connection between heaven and earth. An interesting episode is that, because the performance required, in the past, the dancers of the Tao body had cut their hair close to the bald head, which made the Cloud Gate dancers both nervous and worried, "not knowing the ultimate fate of the hair".
"12" Tao Ye photographed
Zheng Zonglong's works have always been not just the "way of seeing" of the eyes, but the wholehearted devotion that can be listened to with the ears, danced by hand, and walked with all his heart. His new "Multiplication" for the Pottery Body Dancer is precisely to try to establish a "multiplication" model, turning his own action method into blood nutrients, injecting it into the body of the Pottery Body Dancer, and creating works that are born fierce and colorful, like magic blocks. During the rehearsal of "Multiplication", Zheng Zonglong and the Tao body dancers spent time and night together, and deeply felt the full attention and fierce fighting of this group of young dancers for the dance. He guides the dancers to improvise, digging deep into the dancers' inner energy to unleash the ultimate wildness.
"Multiplication" Zhang Shengbin photo
Compared with the dazzling dance of two Mesozoic choreographers running in the clouds, Lin Huaimin's 89th work "Autumn Water" is a beautiful enough tranquility, and it is also the inner "bridge" of this "exchange work". He said: "Seeing the autumn water flowing quietly, with red leaves floating on it, I thought I was going to choreograph this dance, called 'Autumn Water'. Five of the most senior dancers of Cloud Gate came to dance, and after this dance, some of them would leave the stage of Cloud Gate forever. Therefore, Lin Huaimin turned the realm of "infinitely good sunset" into a quiet dance of meditation, which not only mentioned the elders' suggestions for backward progress, but also saw the novel atmosphere of Chinese modern dance art in it. The five dancers of "Autumn Water", including Zhou Zhangyou, Huang Peihua, Huang Yanya, Yang Yijun and Su Yiping, are also their final works with Lin Huaimin.
"Autumn Water" by Li Jiaye
The outline of the new cloud gate gradually became clearer
Some people say that looking at the dance of cloud gate, where is to see people dancing, it is clear that the soul is dancing. Some people say that under the leadership of Lin Huaimin, Yunmen led the audience to a collective breathing exercise that lasted for 46 years. This self-proclaimed dancer who "is uneasy in the world, looking east and west, is a rolling stone", led the Cloud Gate dancers to bring the indescribable emotions of modern dance to the hearts of the audience again and again.
In Lin Huaimin's dance world, the White Lady Xu Xian of the East, Jia Baoyu Lin Daiyu, and Mrs. Qu Yuanxiang danced in the soundtracks of Bach, Shostakovich and Beethoven in the West... In his eyes, art knows no borders or regions, only love and dislike. And Lin Huaimin's audience is also all over the group, there was once a tattered old man who planted a land, in order to watch the Cloud Gate performance, he bought a pair of new shoes, because in his heart, watching the Cloud Gate performance is sacred. In Lin Huaimin's view, his duty is to bring the enjoyment of beauty to all the public who love beauty, which is also the original intention of Cloud Gate.
Lin Huaimin Lin Baili photo
"What does the future hold? I can only say hope, but I cannot force it. Watch what the wind says and how the water flows. In March, Lin Huaimin looked forward to the tomorrow of Cloud Gate. Half a year later, this future is gradually becoming clear - with some senior dancers and young dancers leaving the troupe, the new Cloud Gate will be a regrouped team of 25 dancers; Cloud Gate 2 is suspended, and Zheng Zonglong takes over as the artistic director of Cloud Gate Dance Collection, continuing to promote the core values of dance creation and cultural popularization.
Why did he choose Zheng Zonglong as his "successor", Lin Huaimin once said, "Because he is stupid enough!" The further explanation is that "in addition to being a very good and better choreographer, what is more important is that Yunmen has insisted on doing artistic equal rights since the founding of the troupe, to outdoor, remote, and community performances, which is not something that any artist is willing to do." Zheng Zonglong, who grew up on the streets of Wanhua Gangjia, has a strong belief in this.
Photo by Zheng Zonglong and Li Jiaye
"Hand it over and hand it over." For retirement, Lin Huaimin is very calm. He said that he was not personally very important, and what was important was that the regiment continued to go. In the history of modern dance companies, once the founder or brand choreographer "disappeared", the vitality of this dance company also came to an end, and there are too many examples. Lin Huaimin hopes that the Cloud Gate Dance Set does not have to face all this, and the two-year advance announcement of retirement is to allow the dance troupe to get a long enough buffer period so that the successor does not have to take over in a state of "panic".
In a sense, "Exchange Work" is a gift from Lin Huaimin to Yunmen Dance Collection and Zheng Zonglong - not to say "finally", because in Lin Huaimin's words, "everything is possible" in the future. Under this seemingly bland topic, there are two major dance troupes, the Cloud Gate Dance Collection and the Tao Body Theater, and three international-level choreographers - Lin Huaimin, Tao Ye and Zheng Zonglong's exploration of "new" and "change" in time and space and concept, which also indicates that the new Cloud Gate Dance Set is worth continuing to look forward to in the future - in the "post-Lin Huaimin era", growing new vitality.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shi Chenlu Text Editor: Shi Chenlu