Montpellier Danse: Lunar Halo, a solar performance at the Corum

The participation of the Asian company Cloud Gate Dance Theatre from Taiwan, in a piece created by the choreographer Cheng Tsung-Lungwill remain in the memories as a great moment of this 44th Montpellier Danse festival… This flagship company of the asian contemporary dance and worldwide took the Montpellier public, very pleasantly surprised, on a beautiful sensory journey.

A striking choreography

In this original work, the demanding local public has found what it likes in great contemporary pieces: group movements tailored for fourteen virtuoso dancers, mastered solos, artists who interact in small groups, separate before merging again like waves… All in a beautiful, finely worked light, alternating between dark and bright, like the lunar halothis very particular natural phenomenon which occurs when the moon is low and the clouds are loaded with ice crystals.

By refracting light, clouds and crystals then create a halo in the shape of an elongated prism or of a six-pointed star. It is not good to see this phenomenon, recognized as a storm warning in gestation. Or, more metaphorically, a sign of imminent change, of sudden upheaval…

“Lunar Halo enveloped the Corum in its aura, delivering an almost solar performance”

On stage, the dancers of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, carried by the ethereal music of the Icelandic avant-garde rock group Sigur Rosare under the influence of this mysterious halo and embody a Humanity at bay. The artists convey the poetic message by Cheng Tsung-lung. The choreographer questions himself the changes that shapeand hurt the world, sharing his concern about the growing dependence of humans to digital over-communication and disinformation. He uses symbolic devices, such as these giant LED screens which appear and disappear throughout the piece.

A stunning performance

Asian dancers, trained in contemporary dance, but also in internal martial arts (or neijia quan, these disciplines bring together different styles of martial arts focused on the mastery of movement, mind and energy), qi gong (Chinese breathing gymnastics), to meditation and since 2019 to urban dances (including hip-hop) deliver a stunning performance, at the crossroads of all these disciplines which give them such a particular style.

A breathtaking finale

The paintings follow one another at a frantic pace, offering inspirations with tribal accentsvery contemporary movements mixed with urban culture, pauses punctuated by elegant and fluid solos and lifts… with a breathtaking finaleresponding in echo to the dreamlike and stunning introduction of the piece, the grouped dancers imitating the shape and movement of a sort of enormous insect, a protean creature that symbolizes the evil that devours the world.

Lunar Halo enveloped the Corum in its aura, delivering a near solar performance. Without a doubt, the arrival of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and Cheng Tsung-Lung will remain etched in our memories.

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