Cloud Gate Dance Theater is the first modern dance company of the Republic of China. Since it was founded eight years ago, the theater's stunning achievement has been integration of Chinese and Western dancing techniques into its choreography. Besides popularizing the art of dance at home, Cloud Gate has performed in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, the Philippines and the United States. This September, the Cloud Gate had its first European tour with 74 professional presentations introducing the modern Chinese dance look on the continent.

Founder: In 1973 choreographer Lin Hwai-min adopted Cloud Gate, title of the oldest known Chinese dance, as the name for his newly founded modern dance company. Using Peiping opera movement as the core technique, and modern dance and ballet as stimulus, Lin Hwai-min and several other choreographers have created more than 70 dances to music by contemporary Chinese composers (most of which are commissioned scores).

Lin is a keen observer, and an avid reader whose literary back-ground furnishes inspiration for his creations. Tenacity and down-to-the-earth work help him weather difficulties. He meshes first class dancers, musicians, and lighting and stage designers in Cloud Gate. The total is success.

Even as a boy, Lin was fascinated with dance. He liked watching ke-tsai-hsi, a Taiwanese opera, featuring elaborate body movement. His interest turned to writing, however, until his junior year in college. Then famous choreographer Huang Chung-liang and his wife returned from abroad to teach dancing. Their stimulus faded as Huang left again. And before Lin went to study abroad, he had become the author of a well-known novel, Cicada.

He was chosen an honorary fellow to the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.

But the attraction to dance still smoldered. One summer he went to New York City to study at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. After obtaining a Master's in Fine Arts at the University of Iowa, he set his mind on returning to Free China and serving his nation. And here the Cloud Gate came into being.

Often frustrated by the many chores involved in public performance-soliciting commercial support, overseeing costume design, rehearsals-he tried to give up his undertaking. But he could not resist the temptation of the dance for very long. He quoted Martha Graham's words: "I did not choose to be a dancer, it was dance that chose me and became my life." "I am about the most indebted person in the world. Public encouragement and support are the major forces that kept me from disbanding the group, even when we were short of money," he said.

Works: Though none of his 70 odd creations are perfect, each has its merit, Lin says.

Divided into eight episodes, the "Legacy" is a dance-opera lasting 80 minutes. It is a tribute to the pioneers of Taiwan, who immigrated from the China Mainland three hundred years ago in search of freedom and prosperity. The most moving scene is "The Crossing of Black Water," equivalent to the "Exodus" of the Old Testament. Lin ingeniously uses a piece of huge white cloth to represent, now, a solitary boat, now, huge sea waves. With the turns, bounces and cries of the choreographers, the appalling scenes of struggle between man and sea are vividly presented.

"The Legend of the White Snake" was adapted from a famous Chinese folk tale, featuring the romance between a man and a snake. In this piece, Lin integrates Chinese opera movements with Martha Graham's choreography. Traditional Chinese equipment is used symbolically. An umbrella stand is used to represent Hsu Hsien, the leading male role, a fan to represent the white snake and a bamboo curtain is the snake's nest

"Revenge of a Lonely Ghost" is an adaptation of the Chinese opera Wu Pen Chih (A Dark Basin). The ghost of a murdered man wants revenge. A good-hearted old man takes the ghost to appeal to the Heavenly Justice, and the murderers are punished.

"Han Shih" or literally "Cold Food" is a solo describing how hermit Chieh Chih-tuei refused to serve in the royal court. He dies in a fire set by the king, intended to force Chieh to change his mind. Lin uses a 30-feet white banner to symbolize the heavy burden Chien drags, struggling, to redemption.

Inspired by a Chinese myth, the dance "Milky Way" depicts a human situation: People meet and part, just like the stars in the Milky Way.

Some of the dances were brainchildren of Lin's associates. The "Red Kerchief" by Cheng Su-gi describes an old-fashioned maiden's worries over her future on the eve of her wedding. Comforted by her friends, she accepts a red kerchief, traditional headgear for a bride, and steps into a marriage arranged by her parents.

Training: Lin rehearses with his troupe on a daily eight-hour schedule. Besides practicing modern dance techniques, ballet and Peiping opera movements, Lin invites internationally-known choreographers to instruct his dancers. Such courses as music, choreographic sketching, calligraphy, and techniques of rhythm are opened to troupe members. For Lin, even the tours are experiences to increase the dancers' relationship to life.

For instance, while rehearsing "Legacy," Lin and his dancers went to the Hsintien River in the suburbs of Taipei. There, the dancers lay on the rocks, wriggled amid the stones, threw pebbles and bellowed out their inner feelings in order to experience the rough, rugged terrain and feel the need for physical power and cooperation by the early pioneers.

Besides winning high acclaim at home, Cloud Gate has been honored by its popularity abroad. Excursions include a forty-city storm of the United States in the fall of 1979. Anna Kisselgoff wrote in the New York Times that "Lin Hwai-min has succeeded brilliantly in fusing dance techniques and theatrical concepts from the East and West."

Changes: Cloud Gate's American tour gave Lin great encouragement-- and a new enlightenment. He felt it was now time for the dance and other art forms to be popularized at the grass-roots level at home. He said: "Give a country villager more opportunities to listen and to look, and he will understand Beethoven in the end." This conviction enabled Cloud Gate to perform around the island, even in its remotest corners.

Cloud Gate has also begun to present foreign dances here. Lin said: "In the past, only Chinese styles were allowed in our troupe. From a long-range perspective, we now believe that by introducing foreign classics, we will have more inspiration to create dances of our own. Moreover, a dancer's body language will be more articulate by grasping essences of others' creations."

The achievements of Cloud Gate are many--making dance into a profession and a system, cultivating dance audiences, stimulating art groups in other fields. The most important, however, is to rekindle the developing tradition of once-declining Chinese art forms.

[Picture Caption]

Left: "The Legend of the White Snake" is one of Cloud Gate's signboard presentations. Above: Lin Hwai-min, founder and art director of Cloud Gate.

Clockwise from left: "Red Kerchief" by Cheng Su-gi; Cloud Gate troupe presents "Passacalia in C minor" by Doris Humphrey; two final scenes show dancers in full rehearsal of choreographic routines.

1. "On Horseback" by Lin Hsiu-wei captures the zesty energy of young men in the frontier area of China. 2. "Milky Way" by Lin Hwai-min depicts a human situation: People meet and part, just like stars in the Milky Way. 3. "The Crossing of Black Water", an excerpt from the dance drama, "Legacy", moves audiences everywhere.

Lin Hsiu-wei's latest creation, "Ode to the Earth," symbolizes the rich mother earth in the story of a young couple of the Miao clan.

Lin Hwai-min, founder and art director of Cloud Gate.

Red Kerchief" by Cheng Su-gi; Cloud Gate troupe presents "Passacalia in C minor" by Doris Humphrey; two final scenes show dancers in full rehearsal of choreographic routines.

Red Kerchief" by Cheng Su-gi; Cloud Gate troupe presents "Passacalia in C minor" by Doris Humphrey; two final scenes show dancers in full rehearsal of choreographic routines.

Red Kerchief" by Cheng Su-gi; Cloud Gate troupe presents "Passacalia in C minor" by Doris Humphrey; two final scenes show dancers in full rehearsal of choreographic routines.

Red Kerchief" by Cheng Su-gi; Cloud Gate troupe presents "Passacalia in C minor" by Doris Humphrey; two final scenes show dancers in full rehearsal of choreographic routines.

On Horseback" by Lin Hsiu-wei captures the zesty energy of young men in the frontier area of China.

3. "The Crossing of Black Water", an excerpt from the dance drama, "Legacy", moves audiences everywhere.

Milky Way" by Lin Hwai-min depicts a human situation: People meet and part, just like stars in the Milky Way.

"The Crossing of Black Water", an excerpt from the dance drama, "Legacy", moves audiences everywhere.

Lin Hsiu-wei's latest creation, "Ode to the Earth," symbolizes the rich mother earth in the story of a young couple of the Miao clan.