Revered Choreographer
After studying calligraphy and finding that “all brush works shared one common element: the focused energy with which the calligraphers ‘danced’ during writing,” Lin asked his dancers to improvise in front of giant calligraphic images. The experiment resulted in spectacular lyricism, with the dancers’ taut bodies imitating the flowing and stabbing movements of a calligrapher’s pen on paper.
—Dan Grunebaum
Cloud Gate director and choreographer Lin Hwai-min brings together Far Eastern disciplines, such as T’ai chi, with Western contemporary dance to craft performances that are “distinctive, often mesmerizing and always [an] extraordinarily poised whole.” Gaining most of his training in the US, under such greats as Merce Cunningham and Martha Graham, Hwai-min’s Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan showcases his brilliantly original dance compositions in stunning performances that are considered among the best in the world. Among his many honors, Lin was featured as the "Choreographer of the 20th Century" by Dance Europe in 2000. This multi-talented artist is the subject of television documentaries in many countries, including Discovery Channel's "Portraits Taiwan: Lin Hwai-min" and Opus Arte's "Floating on the Ground." The list of his accomplishments and recognition for his work seems endless.
"On every level, Lin's company is superb. Accomplished and striking, as rigorous as it is disciplined.”
—The Times, London