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Taiwan's Lin Lee-chen, named among the eight most significant choreographers in the world by ARTE, which is one of the most important art and culture television channels in Europe, will bring the Legend Lin Dance Theatre to Hong Kong for the first time. The dance group's latest work, "Song of Pensive Beholding", will be staged at Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium this Friday and Saturday (November 4 and 5), a spiritual encounter distilled from Lin's own life experience and her reflections on art and the soul.
Following "Miroirs de Vie" and "Hymne aux Fleurs qui Passent", "Song of Pensive Beholding" was the result of a nine-year germination. Inspired by watching the eagles at Keelung Harbour, Lin uses a tribal myth to reflect on the harm done to our environment and ourselves by human avarice. This long-awaited piece, featuring the mythical story of a race of eagles, completes Lin's three-part tribute to Heaven, Earth, and Man, and serves as a witness to the choreographer's originality by transforming her concerns for local culture into her own distinct dance vocabulary. As before, Lin's original vocabulary of movement and its unique meditative quality brings the audience closer to earth's inner spirit.
A flagship production of Taiwan's CKS Cultural Center in 2009, "Song of Pensive Beholding" is imbued with the intensity and spiritual essence of ritual theatre and infused with cultural elements of Taiwanese aborigines. Stripped to the minimal, Lin's reductionist yet powerful dance vocabulary interweaves with the sets, building dense visual imagery and symbolic meaning.
After visiting different local tribes to collect traditional folk crafts, Lin teamed up with Oscar-winning art director Tim Yip to create an exquisite yet potent visual impact and a truly eastern aesthetic encounter. The resulting design costumes and props include the pleated skirts of the Miao and Dong ethnic groups, Cixi's "nail sheaths", Chinese fan palm leaves and black pebbles.
Hailed as "a genius choreographer in Taiwan's dance scene", Lin Lee-chen founded the Legend Lin Dance Theatre in 1995 for the purpose of presenting large-scale performance works that reflect the spirit and culture of her native Taiwan. Inspired by local religious rituals and ceremonial rites celebrating the rhythms of nature and our place in it, the artistry of the Legend Lin Dance Theatre blends a lush visual aesthetics with a brilliant original choreography that gives new meaning to the phrase "poetry in motion". Meditative and majestically elegant, the group's unique approach has made it a favourite at renowned international festivals, including Festival d'Avignon, Lyon Dance Biennial and Festival de Otoño.
In 2002, Lin was named among the eight most significant choreographers in the world by ARTE. The group's original language of dance, which is not beholden to any overseas schools, helped Lin to receive Taiwan's most prestigious award for arts in 2005.
"Song of Pensive Beholding" is one of the highlights of the World Cultures Festival 2011 - Enchanting Arts of Asia presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. It will be staged on November 4 and 5 at 8pm, at the Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium.
Tickets priced at $280, $220, $160 and $130 are now available at URBTIX outlets. Half-price tickets are available for full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and the minder, and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients. Other booking discounts of up to 20 per cent are available. This programme contains nudity.
Programme brochures for the World Cultures Festival 2011 - Enchanting Arts of Asia are available at URBTIX outlets or at the website, www.worldfestival.gov.hk .
For programme enquiries, call 2370 1044. Internet bookings can be made at www.urbtix.hk . For credit card telephone bookings, call 2111 5999.
Ends/Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Issued at HKT 18:27
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