A display of raw talent wielded by sharp choreography that promises an impressive evening from which every audience member will take a different story
From 30th November to 2nd December, Lunar Halo transformed the Sadler’s Wells stage. Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan was founded in 1973 and marks it’s 50year anniversary this year. Lunar Halo (which first premiered in 2019) is a perfect production to celebrate this milestone with choreography that showcases the casts talent, the company’s ambition and the energy that Cloud Gate are renowned to bringing to every stage.
Lunar Halo explores change and the way bodies inhabit a technologically-advanced world. Artistic Director, Cheng Tsung-Lung, explains that Lunar Halo was ‘inspired not only by nature, but by the familiar experience of losing a night to online browsing’. The second part of this inspiration resonated with me most and I found myself watching that rabbit-hole journey unfold on stage. I could see the progression from that innocent foray of going onto dating apps, flicking through friends Instagram posts and reels through to the darker parts of the internet, all whilst mapped against nature’s journey. Interestingly my partner who hadn’t read the programme before hand saw the Circle of Life mapped in the form of fireflies crossing a lake.
One of the most incredible things about contemporary dance is this ability for the show to take whatever form you see in the art. Sometimes I find it one of my most challenging obstacles to overcome, sitting down in that auditorium at the start, unsure what plot I’ll see but when the performance is strong enough all these reservations melt away. That’s quickly the case with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan – the show begins and immediately your attention is captured, it’s impossible to look away from the talent performing on stage.
Lunar Halo started with an impressive formation of male dancers which to me represented the DNA helix or the forming of life/the body. The effect even the most minuscule movement their arms had in creating a wave of energy was captivating. As the women entered the stage we witnessed a courting dance with the women’s mesmerising flutter dragging my attention from the robust stalwart moves of the men. One of the women took centre stage with a doll-like stance that represented the way we see only the perfect life on social media with the broken reality showcased through her sharp abrupt movements in her lower half.
As the performance progressed I watched as projections of a life size man reminded me how immortalised our actions can be on the internet, and the (slightly unnecessary but interesting nonetheless) videography of naked dancers highlighted how we constantly examine each others bodies. The only element in the show that jerked me out of the reverie I’d fallen to was a jarring section where a clock-like beat disrupted the flow and left me with that shaken feeling of being woken from a good dream by an awful alarm.
A ritualistic summoning/prayer followed this sequence which brought the energy back and demonstrated the unique form of Cloud Gate (a mixture of martial arts, ballet and contemporary dance) and seemed to signify night coming to an end. The introduction of a waterfall brought the theme of natural events back to the forefront and seemed to suggest even with the turmoil of the night nature continues to flow. Ending with the rising sun we had the perfect silhouette of a woman performing an enchanting routine but again I was left slightly jarred by the ending which saw her shaking with inexplicable suffering.
An interesting evening all round, Cloud Gate were greeted with tumultuous applause in the theatre, a fair reaction to their undeniable talent. Even if I found myself jerked from the flow every so often it’s clear that there’s a passion and skill on this stage that a single performance does little to slate the hunger for.