Moon water

To the Chinese, Moon Water, or Suei Yuei. is reminiscent of two things. One is a Buddhist proverb: "Flowers in a mirror and moon on the water are both illusory". The other describes the ideal state of Tai-Chi practitioners: "Energy flows as water, while the spirit shines as the moon”. The latter phrase emphasizes man's ideal condition.

The choreographer departs from these famous quotes in the creation of this work, a poetic rendering of Taoist philosophy. Moon Water is a study of real versus the unreal, effort versus effortlessness, yin and yang: it is ultimately a study of time.

As the curtain opens, a man stands alone on stage, looking at a simplified pattern of water, drawn on the black marley floor with white brush strokes. As the dance proceeds, several mirrors appear in mid-air and upstage, reflecting the moving dancers and the pattern on the floor. Towards the end of the piece, water flows onto the floor until the floor itself becomes a huge mirror reflecting the dancing bodies. A full-length mirror upstage reflects the dancers and the reflections of their images in the water.

This is a black-and-white production. While the stage floor is covered by black marley, the dancers’ costumes are of billowy white silk, which eventually gets soaked by the water, revealing the bodies underneath. Thus the fabric creates the special effect of emphasizing the dancers' bodies and their sculptural expressiveness.