Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

Much-watched young choreographer Huang, Yi enjoys doing experiments and incorporating the results into his dazzling dance pieces. In “Spin 2010”, new combinations of machinery and technology are used to present rich and arresting imagery. While dancers are only one aspect of the overall work, their keen awareness of timing and coordination with on-stage equipment are really what pulls the piece together. Huang, Yi has met a huge challenge in making the dancers and machinery work in unison.Committee member: Liang, Ruei-Rung

Artwork Introduction

Dancer Huang Yi is special choreographer of Cloud Gate Dance Theater 2 and his choreographed work “SPIN” is a four-year experimental project combining technology with dance, focusing on the interrelationship between technology, dance, and art to create a unique work.

For the latest version of “SPIN,” the human element was eliminated to provide a performance dominated by machines and technology and to minimize the involvement of emotions and personal life experiences. Such a display of artificial limbs combined with the special visual effects created a more conceptual design for a totally new visual experience. 

“SPIN2010” was a collaborative effort by the choreographer and the creative team. The music, lighting, and staging, particularly the visual and audio effects, reflect the cold metallic tone of technology.

The use of laser beams and high-tech LEDs made the dance movements appear three-dimensional as the revolving lights magnified the subtle details in a movement. Light projections that shone on the walls, floors and audience area created an enveloping multi-media environment.

Interactive video recording equipment captured the movement of limbs in space. The fragmented and distorted images of the dancers were rearranged by various special effects such as being refracted at a 45° angle, vertically and horizontally and projected on the walls. These reflections elicited a strange relationship between body and space, while the reflections and the actual space created a special visual relationship between individuals and the things around them.

Besides the dancers’ movements, computerized mechanical arms revolved rhythmically. Thirteen projectors at the top of the stage displayed interactive images and instant video imagery which allowed the light from different sources to communicate with the dancers. This overlapping of light and shadow created simultaneous senses of time and space.

About the Artist

About National Chiang Kai Shek Cultural Center

When the National Chiang Kai Shek Cultural Center, also known as the National Theater and National Concert Hall (NTCH) was first established in 1987, its goal was to raise the artistic standards of the country. Since then, many world renowned artists have performed there.

NTCH is the premier performance venue in Taiwan, with four major performing areas: The National Theater presents large-scale productions such as theatre, ballet, and opera; the Experimental Theater is appropriate for small dramatic productions and dance groups; the National Concert Hall is equipped for symphony orchestra performances; and the Recital Hall is for small-scale works such as chamber music and recitals.

About Huang Yi

Huang Yi , choreographer

Huang Yi, who majored in creative dance at the Taipei National University of the Arts, is a choreographer/dancer/video-imaging creator and special choreographer of Cloud Gate Dance Theater 2.

“Spin,” his four-year experimental project, was performed locally and internationally (2007-2010).

 In 2007 “Speed,” a performance in collaboration with the Horse Dance Company, won the Taishin Arts Award, while “Whisper” took second place at the International Choreography Competition in Denmark.

In 2010, “Second Skin” was granted a subsidy by the Council of Cultural Affairs. In 2010, in collaboration with artist Wang, Zhong-Kun, produced “Symphony Project” which was awarded first prize for performance at the First Taipei Digital Art Festival.