FEB 25 — When I was told that Cloud Gate, the premier contemporary dance group in Asia, was performing in Kuala Lumpur, I asked if choreographer Lin Hwai Min was coming as well. They told me that he would be at the press conference and give a talk at KLPAC’s Indicine. I said to myself: “I don’t want to miss this opportunity to meet him again.”

When I arrived, someone told me that he was smoking outside the building. Then I spotted a man sleeping on the wooden jetty that juts out to the lake. I stood there next to him and said: “Don’t you think it is nice to be out in the open?” “Yeah, it is always nice,” he replied.

Then I introduced myself: “We met long time ago at a World Dance Conference in Melbourne in 1996. My presentation ‘Ramayana in Malaysia’ was just after your presentation of ‘Nine Songs’.” We talked a bit about various works and his various tours, including his tour to New York and Nashville. After finishing his cigarette, we started walking back to the building for his presentation.

Lin Hwai Min, a writer-turned-choreographer, holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Writer’s Workshop, University of Iowa. Lin studied dance in Taiwan and New York. In 1973, he founded Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, and Cloud Gate 2 in 1999.

The Lifetime Achievement Award that he received from Germany calls Lin “a foremost innovator of dance” and that “Lin Hwai-min ranks amongst artists of the century such as William Forsythe, George Balanchine, etc.”

Known as “the most important choreographer in Asia,” Lin often draws his inspiration from traditional Asian culture and aesthetics to create original works with contemporary resonance. Lin has received many awards including honorary doctorates from five universities in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, Rockefeller Award, and the “Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters” from the French Ministry of Culture. In 2005, he was celebrated by Time Magazine as one of the “Asia’s Heroes.” 

I was thinking to myself: “Finally Malaysians have the chance to see his work and perhaps understand what is Asian contemporary dance theatre.” They are right to bring “Songs of the Wanderers”, dubbed by The New York Times as “….visually stunning and exquisitely performed in deliberate slow motion…..”

He started his talk that day with his journey to India in the summer of 1994. For years, Lin said, he had been meaning to go to India, especially after reading Herman Hesse’s international acclaimed novel “Siddhartha.” He went on to describe his experience in Vanarasi (Benares), India, and especially in Bodhgaya village and Neranjra River which Prince Siddhartha was determined to cross and change his life. Lin continued “…….back in Taipei, I often remembered the cool shade of the Bodhi tree, and the Neranjra River that ran quietly through time. Every day the dancers of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan meditated. I created ‘Songs of the Wanderers’ with great ease, a work about the practice of asceticism, a river’s calm flow and the quest for quietude.”

If people were to preserve his dance work, he hoped that they would choose “Songs of Wanderers”, as he thought that the piece is the best representation of his work.

Another interesting thing to point out is the use of Georgian folk songs by the Rustavi Choir. The whole juxtaposition is rather intriguing, the Chinese bodies performing contemporary tai chi, the Indian experience and the Western sound. When I asked him about the choice of music and whether Asian dance should use Western music, he was quick to answer: “The music was perfect for the dance, that’s why it was chosen. And in fact the company, Cloud Gate, has been invited to perform with the group, Rustavi Choir.”

Lin said that Georgia, a former state of Russia, is actually situated in the middle, between Asia and Europe, hence the sound has its connection. And in the present situation in the world, we cannot avoid consuming all sorts of things from around the world, either through our iPod and iPhone, or through coffee or tea that we drink! 

When I say that I am just a small choreographer trying to make small works, he was quick to comment that small works are fashionable nowadays and that’s why he created Cloud Gate 2 to promote young choreographers. Only later I found out that he founded the Department of Dance at Taipei National University of the Arts in 1983 and served as its chairman for five years. In 1993 and 1994, he was the founding dean of the university’s graduate dance programme. 

Prof Lin Hwai Min, I am looking forward to seeing more of your wonderful Asian contemporary works and people will understand how you can save traditions and embrace modernity at the same time!

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.