Tao Dance Theater - 16 + 17

Sixteen dancers are connected and arranged in a line. In the process of flowing, circling and marching, energy fluctuations among the dancers are transmitted back and forth from the beginning to the end of this line, unfolding the overlay dynamics of the flow of space. In its exploration of movement, 16 creates new possibilities and languages for how the body moves. It develops a circular space for the 360-degree movement of the head, with hidden areas of the head such as the forehead, nose, ears and back of the head becoming pivot points.

Seventeen dancers scatter in various places or gather together, seemingly in disorder. From the beginning to the end, sound becomes the signal for everyone’s thoughts and movements. The sound form is always synchronised with the body movement, forming a world of contrasts between these two languages. The creation of 17 derives from the kinaesthetic imagination of sound. It is a wordless song and an inexplicably familiar word. This contradictory sense of distance, near and far, runs through the entire work. For Tao Ye, the fluctuations and linearity of sound are not only auditory, but also physical: “Bodies are all connected, this is a language of the world”.