Forged in the Crucible of Time:

A family mission

“Winning this award is a weight off my shoulders.” Lin Wen-chung says that his mother, who was also a choreographer, always hoped to win the National Award for Arts. With the honor being at last bestowed upon him, Lin is able to put his family’s aspirations aside and devote himself to what he is truly passionate about.

Lin’s mother, Tsai Li-hua, was the founder of Taiwan’s first professional folk dance company. A rebellious soul, Lin defied his parents’ wishes, determined to carve out a career of his own.

For seven years, he worked as a leading dancer for the successful Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in America. With often over 700 dancers vying for one position, being accepted into this company was itself an impressive mark of recognition.

While competing with his peers for the spotlight, Lin gained insights into cultural differences. “Western dance education encourages dancers to dream, to turn their dreams into reality. As soon as they appear on the stage, they emanate such distinctive individuality that you can tell immediately where they’re from. In Taiwan, by contrast, dance is more oriented towards a choreographer-­led sense of ‘collectivity.’ Here, a dancer’s physical movements often exude tranquility, pursuing evocative moods and elegance.”

Small, the first production of Lin Wen-chung’s dance company, was met with critical acclaim. (photo by David Tsai, courtesy of WCdance)

Small End marked Lin Wen-chung’s departure from conventional dance vocabulary as he explored new possibilities of bodily expression. (photo by Wang Min-syuan, courtesy of WCdance)

Collectivity versus individuality

Having seen for himself the cultural tensions between collectivity and individuality, when Lin returned to Taiwan to pursue his creative career he sought to break through to, and awaken, his dancers’ innermost physical potentials.

In 2008 he established his own dance company, WCdance, and started to explore the capabilities of the human body. In his signature production Small Nanguan, he broke new ground by infusing Nanguan, a traditional style of chamber music originally from China’s Fujian Province, with a modern vitality. “I was hoping that after the performance, the audience would think ‘Nanguan is so interesting!’ and be willing to learn more about it.” Small Nanguan went on to delight audiences and attract critical acclaim in Japan and at international dance festivals.

Another standout production, Long River, gave expression to Lin’s profound deconstruction of the aesthetic of collectivity, allowing dancers to look into their own hearts and retain idiosyncratic feelings even while they were part of a collective whole.

The Wind Rises was one of the productions embodying the bodily techniques born of Lin Wen-chung’s idea of fluid movements of the human body. (photo by Lin Dingtai, courtesy of WCdance)

With Long River, Lin Wen-chung achieved widespread critical recognition. (photo by Chen You-wei, courtesy of WCdance)

The logic of movement

As part of his discourse on creativity, Lin has developed a distinctive concept—“the logic of movement”—which probes the dynamics of fluid movements of the human body.

“What I’m looking for is an inner logic that governs the way the body moves. I want my dancers to know clearly why and how they move. When we find out the reasons behind our movements, we see different vistas of dance open up in front of us, and those vistas are always different from what we already know.”

After suspending his dance company’s operations in 2017, Lin found himself receiving more commissions from companies seeking his choreographic expertise. In the last three years, adopting a journalistic perspective, he has turned his attention to homeless people, migrant workers, and the socially marginalized. Collaborating with Chun Dance on Stasiun (Indonesian for “station”) and Songs from Home, and with Dance Forum Taipei on The Shelter, he wishes to encourage students and dancers to think about how to engage with social issues through dance.

Lin Wen-chung’s Small Nanguan brought contemporary sensibilities to bear on Nanguan, a traditional style of chamber music in Taiwan.  (photo by Chen Chang-chih, courtesy of WCdance)

The Shelter, which focuses on the lives of homeless and marginalized people, premiered in October 2024. (photo by Lee Ting-yu, courtesy of Dance Forum Taipei)

Stasiun (Indonesian for “station”) reflected Lin Wen-chung’s concern for migrant workers. (photo by Lin Yuquan, courtesy of Chun Dance)

A modern take

Lin says that teaching is an “extremely time-consuming” job. Nevertheless, he continues to busy himself with developing a new series of dance projects that illuminate the contemporary relevance of local traditions. He works with students at National Taiwan University of Arts to reinterpret the cheguzhen, a traditional temple performance that blends music and dance. His creative blueprint also includes a contemporary take on the yizhen—temple-based performance troupes—which will lead to productions for large theaters.

Towards the end of the interview, we ask Lin what dance means to him. His answer is reminiscent of Chan Buddhist wisdom: “Art is forged in the crucible of time.”

Lin is continuing his choreographic journey, devoting his time to forging the next new vision for Taiwan’s dance culture. 

Aerodynamics was one of the works marking Lin Wen-chung’s transition to large stages.  (photo by Chen Chang-chih, courtesy of WCdance) 

Lin Wen-chung encourages his students to find their own paths and their own voices.