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STAMPING GROUND DANCE FESTIVAL
- RESOURCES for SUPPORTERS
On this page Ilene Fox
(NY)
writes about international co-operation and the recent presentation in Dusseldorf
of Lin Hwai-min's important creation Legacy, by 4 groups of dancers from different
countries (inc West Australian Academy of Performance Arts)
On Sept. 11 here in NY you can't go
anywhere in the streets without being reminded of what happened a year ago. On my
way to work this morning I saw a choir singing on the street and construction workers
raising two flags high above the new sky scraper they are building. On the next block
the whole street is closed off, a large flag is flying - stretched from a building
on one side of the street to one on the other - in front of the fire station is a
memorial to the firefighters they personally lost and a bell tolls. People come by
with flowers and leave them in front of the fire station doors. It is a time of sadness,
of remembering the feelings, the sadness, fear and sense of violent violation of
that day.
But I also remember a wonderful dance performance I saw in Dusseldorf,Germany just
two weeks ago. And I want to share with you this example of international cooperation
and sharing. It felt appropriate to do it today. It gives me inspiration and hope
for what can be done and how we can reach out to each other.
Four academic institutions, from Taiwan, Australia, Hong Kong and the United States,
worked together to stage a full evening work by a Taiwanese choreographer, staged
by an Australian living in the United States and performed before an international
audience in Germany. The work pays tribute to the Chinese pioneers who settled Taiwan,
but it is also the story of any people who left their homes against great odds to
settle in a new, strange country.
"Legacy" by Lin Hwai-min, the founder and Artistic Director of Cloud Gate
Dance Theatre of Taiwan, was performed by students from the Department of Dance,
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Australia; The Purchase Dance Corps,
Conservatory of Dance, Purchase College, USA; Department of Dance Taipei National
University of the Arts, Taiwan and Department of Modern Dance, School of Dance, The
Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Hong Kong.
Ray Cook first saw the "Crossing the Black Water" section of "Legacy"
in 1986. Cook was so moved by the theatricality of the work and the universal message
conveyed by the simple story of people triumphing over seemingly impossible odds
that he approached the choreographer and convinced Mr. Lin to allow him to notate
it. After notating "Crossing the Black Water," in 1998 funding was secured
in Taipei to enable the Labanotation of the entire work.
At a meeting in Philadelphia during the 2000 Feet Festival, co-sponsored by World
Dance Alliance Americas, Nanette Hassell (Australia), Tom Brown (Hong Kong), Carol
Walker (USA), Lo Man-fei (Taipei) and Ray Cook discussed the possibility of each
school performing sections of "Legacy" and then all coming together in
one place to present the work in its entirety. After further discussions with Betram
Muller, the Executive Director of World Dance Alliance Europe, it was confirmed that
it would be presented in Germany during the Global Dance 2002 Festival.
Each school was assigned two sections from the work. They were staged by Ray Cook,
who traveled to all four schools to set the assigned sections from his Labanotated
score. The students were then coached by the choreographer's representative Yang
Mei-jong. The schools each performed their sections at concerts at their institution.
The students, 74 in all, came together for the first time a few days before the performance.
They took class together, rehearsed together, learned from each other and performed
beautifully. I personally found the performance very moving, both from the emotion
of the story and from seeing this example of our young students working together
to create a performance that touched all who saw it. The performance was seamless,
moving from one group of students to the next with a feeling of continuity and wholeness.
The performance was dedicated to the late Carl Wolz. Those of you who know Carl know
of the festivals he started in Asia that brought together students from dance academies
all over the world to take class together, perform for each other and create connections
from one part of the world to another. He was known for his vision and dedication
to drawing together the international dance community. He was instrumental in forming
the Asia Pacific Dance Alliance which became World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific. He
was a prime mover in the formation of World Dance Alliance which is now in three
regions of the world: Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. He always spoke of working
towards international understanding and cooperation through the art of dance. I am
sure he would have been proud of the students in this performance and of the visionaries
who made it happen.
As I remember the events of Sept. 11, I also remember the heros of that day and the
heros of everyday who are working towards the international cooperation and sharing
that this project embodies.
Ilene Fox
September, 2002
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