Hong Kong will see the return of Taiwan's Cloud Gate Dance Theatre after a seven-year absence for the enigmatic dance performance Lunar Halo.
The theater has been widely celebrated as the first contemporary dance company to emerge in the Chinese-speaking world.
Following a 2019 premiere in Kaohsiung, Lunar Halo has toured globally to wide critical acclaim, including from The Telegraph, which lauded it as one of the "Best Dance Performances of 2023."
Its next stop is Hong Kong, slated for tomorrow and this Saturday in the Grand Theatre of the Xiqu Centre.
The dancers' raw movements are set against a surreal, celestial background. LEE CHIA-YEH
The performance takes its name from a rare atmospheric phenomenon – the "lunar halo" – when moonlight refracts through ice crystals in clouds at a 22-degree angle, encircling the moon with a silvery glow.
This phenomenon captured the imagination of Cheng Tsung-lung, artistic director of Cloud Gate and choreographer of Lunar Halo, who infused it with the ancient Chinese folklore that "a halo around the moon foretells the wind," signaling imminent change.
Cheng worked this metaphor into a poetic choreography that explores the tension between human perception and technological intervention. Like tribal members of a primitive era, dancers crouch, sway, fling, and hurl, stirring up a raw, untamed energy with vortex-like intensity.
The choreography stirs up an untamed energy with vortex-like intensity. CHANG CHEN-CHOU
A futuristic ambience envelops this primal commotion, with LED screens composing a dreamlike landscape with fragments of the dancers' movements – designed by visual designers Jam Wu and Ethan Wang – as well as an experimental musical score by the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Ros, together conjuring a celestial, surreal vision on stage.
Lunar Halo is presented by WestK Performing Arts in partnership with Rolex. Tickets are available through Cityline and the Xiqu Centre Ticket Office.
