The inspiration of Small Puzzles comes from Wen-Chung Lin’s childhood memory of a kid staying in the painting studio along practicing observation drawing. The innocent heart of the child was touched by the magic power of light-and-shadow and the growing poetic charm of it. Twenty years later, he tried to recall the memory of solitude through physical vocabulary. The contrast between the giant geometric blocks and the dancers in relatively smaller size has caught the attention of all audience. The music is selected from Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-tempered Clavier. The artistic style is full of geometric elements, like how its title in Chinese “尛” geometrically puts the three “small” together in one single character. Sponsored by the 2010 Council for Cultural Affairs’ Project for Creative Performing Arts, Small Puzzles premiered at National Experimental Theatre in the same year.
The stage design of Small Puzzles features large size toy blocks in North European style. The blocks either divide the stage or makes some combination in piles. Dancers move around the space, creating perceptive variations with the changing space. The elements of space, props, movements, and time are accumulated and rearranged, enriching the aristic quality of the work with its simple and clear choregraphic structure as well as the unique qualities of the physical movements. In the paragraphs such as “Window,” “Is There Any Action Figure?” “Look,” and “River of Time,” Wen-Chung Lin plays with various themes of space and music. Sometimes, they are independent from each other, while sometimes they are united in the impressionistic light to capture the absoute, delicate, and peaceful flow of time.
Dance is a poetic river running through time, as the geometric element segments the peaceful castle of puzzles. The light and shadow dance with the music and its lingering echoes. Dreams, childhood, fantasies, and all the images we can think of are juxtaposed on one and another. Dancers’ physical movements show originality, corresponding to the geometric lines created by space, light, and shadow. Through their dance, we are invited to a world of inner poise where everything is spiritually “large” in the eyes of children.
In 2011, Wen-Chung Lin based on the same concepts of a toy-block stage to present Dance With Toy Blocks, the family version of Small Puzzles. It is also the first WCDance production made for parents and children. In 2012, a shortened version of Small Puzzles was invited to perform at Festival d'Avignon Off, where it made a huge critical success.
REVIEW
"With his latest work, Small Puzzles, Lin Wenchung proved he is more than ready for the big time. He has really raised the bar, not just for his own work and his company WCdance, but for other small troupes in this country. "
～ Taipei Times 2010.9.27
ARTICLES
Premiere Date: Sep 23, 2010
Performance Venue: National Theater/ Experimental Theater
Choreography: Wen-Chung Lin
Stage Designer: Jui-Chung Yao
Lighting Designer: Chien-Chang Lee
Costume Designer: Ting-Jui Fang
Graphic Designer: Chih-lun Chang Studio/ Yue-liang (Leon) Guo
Photographer: Chang-chih Chen
Videographer: Kuan-Yu Chen
Dancers: Wen-Chung Lin, Hsiao-Yuan Lin, Yu-Wen Chiu, Chien Hu, I-Chun Hsieh, Hsin-Yu Chen
The stage design of Small Puzzles features large size toy blocks in North European style. The blocks either divide the stage or makes some combination in piles. Dancers move around the space, creating perceptive variations with the changing space. The elements of space, props, movements, and time are accumulated and rearranged, enriching the aristic quality of the work with its simple and clear choregraphic structure as well as the unique qualities of the physical movements. In the paragraphs such as “Window,” “Is There Any Action Figure?” “Look,” and “River of Time,” Wen-Chung Lin plays with various themes of space and music. Sometimes, they are independent from each other, while sometimes they are united in the impressionistic light to capture the absoute, delicate, and peaceful flow of time.
Dance is a poetic river running through time, as the geometric element segments the peaceful castle of puzzles. The light and shadow dance with the music and its lingering echoes. Dreams, childhood, fantasies, and all the images we can think of are juxtaposed on one and another. Dancers’ physical movements show originality, corresponding to the geometric lines created by space, light, and shadow. Through their dance, we are invited to a world of inner poise where everything is spiritually “large” in the eyes of children.
In 2011, Wen-Chung Lin based on the same concepts of a toy-block stage to present Dance With Toy Blocks, the family version of Small Puzzles. It is also the first WCDance production made for parents and children. In 2012, a shortened version of Small Puzzles was invited to perform at Festival d'Avignon Off, where it made a huge critical success.
REVIEW
"With his latest work, Small Puzzles, Lin Wenchung proved he is more than ready for the big time. He has really raised the bar, not just for his own work and his company WCdance, but for other small troupes in this country. "
～ Taipei Times 2010.9.27
ARTICLES
Premiere Date: Sep 23, 2010
Performance Venue: National Theater/ Experimental Theater
Choreography: Wen-Chung Lin
Stage Designer: Jui-Chung Yao
Lighting Designer: Chien-Chang Lee
Costume Designer: Ting-Jui Fang
Graphic Designer: Chih-lun Chang Studio/ Yue-liang (Leon) Guo
Photographer: Chang-chih Chen
Videographer: Kuan-Yu Chen
Dancers: Wen-Chung Lin, Hsiao-Yuan Lin, Yu-Wen Chiu, Chien Hu, I-Chun Hsieh, Hsin-Yu Chen