"Songs of the Wanderers,” Cloud Gate's quest for enlightenment and resonance, will be staged for the final time in London and Birmingham from May 4 through 11 before the dance company's patriarch retires the piece for good.
"Songs of the Wanderers,” one of Cloud Gate's earliest productions that gained international recognition, takes inspiration from the wealth of religious rites and spiritual philosophy found in Asia.
The 90-minute production is a stunning paean to spirituality and what it means to be human. Golden rice grains shower down on dancers - some in motion, others unmoving - and pile up on stage to form hills, deserts, rivers.
Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha serves as the prototype for the pilgrim monks in the storyline. Elements from meditative sessions undertaken by Cloud Gate's founder and artistic director, Lin Hwai-min (林懷民), are incorporated as well.
Alistair Spalding, artistic director of Sadler's Wells, will also hold a public discourse with Cloud Gate patriarch Lin in a post-show talk on May 4.
Cloud Gate will then travel north to join the International Dance Festival Birmingham 2016. Two more renditions of "Songs of the Wanderers” will be staged at Birmingham Hippodrome before the troupe departs for Russia, where "White Water” and "Dust” will be staged in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and Yekaterinburg.
London
- Date: May 4 - 7, 2016
- Venue: Sadler's Wells
- Address: Rosebery Avenue, London, EC1R
- Site: www.sadlerswells.com
Birmingham
- Date: May 10 - 11, 2016
- Venue: Birmingham Hippodrome
- Address: Hurst Street, Southside, Birmingham, B5 4TB
- Site: www.idfb.co.uk
There is no happiness for him who does not travel, Rohita!
Thus we have heard. Living in the society of men,
the best man becomes a sinner...
Therefore, wander!
The feet of the wanderer are like the flower, his soul is
growing and reaping the fruit; and all his sins are destroyed
by his fatigues in wandering.
Therefore, wander!
The fortune of him who is sitting, sits; it rises when he rises;
it sleeps when he sleeps; it moves when he moves.
Therefore, wander!