Arts & International Affairs: 2.3: Autumn/Winter 2017 | Page 20

ARTS & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Figure 10: Cloud Gate Dance Theatre performing Rite of Tree
I am left though with that paradox, so neatly and poetically expressed by Lin Hwai Min
of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre—I paraphrase him here, for which I hope he’ll forgive me.
But his essence is that, in this art form, power is expressed both in the moment and in its
memory by those who see it. The fact that all we have is “that instant, and those fleeting
moments”, that evanescent moment is also evidence in the end of theatre’s ultimate pow-
erlessness. Powerful or powerless—or both? An endless conundrum! You make up your
own mind as you experience your next theatre performance ...
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