For Chinese masters of calligraphy, the art reflects a sense of meditation and spiritual energy. That’s what inspired Lin Hwai-min, artistic director of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, to create a dance trilogy that conveys the lyric flow of this ancient form of penmanship.
Lin’s “Wild Cursive,” the final installment in his series, receives its American premiere Friday and Saturday at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park. It is presented by the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago.
“Calligraphy is not only brush strokes on white rice paper,” says Lin in a phone interview from Taipei. “Calligraphy is the energy left behind by the masters with brush in hand. It reflects the temperament of a person, the yin and yang.”
Since founding his contemporary dance troupe in 1973, Lin has delved into ancient Chinese practices, such as meditation, martial arts and tai chi. He integrates them into his choreography, which also encompasses Chinese opera movement, modern dance and ballet. He has been working on the trilogy for the past five years.
In the first part, “Cursive” (performed at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre in 2003), the dancers performed in front of large panels adorned with elegant Chinese characters. “Cursive II” took on darker, more vigorous qualities as it explored different shades of black ink.
Now Lin premieres “Wild Cursive” honoring the free-form style of calligraphy, known as kuang chao. It frees the characters from rules to expose the writer’s underlying spiritual state. Phil Reynolds, the Dance Center’s executive director, calls it “the most out-there abstract form of calligraphy that leaves a lot to chance.”
Lin says calligraphers practicing wild cursive even got a little intoxicated in order to free themselves. “Calligraphy reached a climax in the 4th Century,” says Lin. “It was no longer for writing purposes. Meaning was not the point. The point was self-expression. It was early improvisation.”
In “Wild Cursive,” Lin balances control with surprise. The dancers move in and around long suspended scrolls of white rice paper. Black ink pours onto the paper and slowly seeps into it to create abstract patterns. It’s a combined dance performance and art installation.
Against this liquid backdrop, the soundscape reveals the dancers’ breathing and snippets of nature, ranging from a chorus of cicadas to wind gusts and waves.
“The ideal state for a wild cursive artist is to look natural,” says Lin. “Calligraphy is connected to nature. After all, the paper is fiber from a plant. The ink is made from the smoke of pine trees and mixed with water. The brush is made from animal hair and bamboo.”
`Wild Cursive’
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Where: Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph Drive
Price: $18-$48; 312-344-8300
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