A solar eclipse and a thunderstorm strike the stage. These are just some of the digitally recreated natural phenomena that accompany Beyond Time, the latest production by the renowned Taiwanese group of dancers and percussionists, U-Theatre.
The historic company, founded in 1988 in Taipei by artist Ruo-Yu Liu, has, since 1993, been co-directed by Malaysian percussionist Chih-Chun Huang. Today, it is composed of fifteen versatile performers who masterfully combine movement and sound with astonishing precision. A key feature of the company is its fusion of Eastern and Western artistic styles. U-Theatre blends the concentration and minimalism typical of the East with the methods of total Western theater.
Rooted in movement disciplines drawn from Eastern practices such as Tai Chi Chuan, martial arts, meditation techniques, and the ecstatic spinning of the Dervishes, the choreographic art of Ruo-Yu Liu—who also trained in New York and attended Jerzy Grotowski’s workshops—expresses the union of two worlds and the excellence of multilingual training. It is mesmerizing to watch the perfect unisons in their performances, and to see the dancers seamlessly transition from one scene to another, accompanied by their drums, cymbals, or massive gongs.
“In Beyond Time,” explains Mrs. Liu, “I want to explore the relationship between humanity and the universe. The technology I’ve incorporated into the show, along with the lighting design, is aimed at creating a contrast between substance and void, between essence and appearance; they encourage both the audience and dancers to share an unusual space-time.” It is no surprise, then, that certain choreographies simulate the movement of the planets in our solar system, guiding the audience toward a meditative state and celestial harmony.
Liu and Huang encourage the spectator to transcend the limits of earthly life, to break free from the chains of time in order to savor a sense of connection with something that transcends.
