reviewvancouver, - John Jane

Cheng I-han, Rehearsal Director & Dancer
Photo courtesy of Hung Dance

CHENG I-han, Rehearsal Director & Dancer of Hung Dance

RMP: What was your early dance training
From age 4 to 15, I trained in children’s creative movement and folk dance. At 15, I began Western dance training, such as ballet and Martha Graham technique; Tai Chi Dao-Yin, and improvisation. From 20 to 22, I focused more on contact improvisation and contemporary dance. These years shaped my first understanding of rhythm, dynamics, and body lines.

RMP: How did you get involved in dance
When I was four, my mother worked across from a dance studio. Seeing kids in pink tutus through the mirror made me want to start dance classes. My mom simply wanted to develop my hobbies, but I would come home after every class and practice repeatedly for her. Through the frustrations and breakthroughs, I gradually realized how much joy and purity I found in dancing, and that this was truly the path I wanted to follow.

RMP: What are your favorite dance roles
I especially enjoy roles that are mature or emotionally rich. In college, I performed the Old Woman in Kurt Jooss’s The Green Table. That experience helped me discover that my emotional nature could be expressed through such characters. Whether portraying loneliness or struggle, I deeply enjoy the process of release.

RMP: Audiences always ask, what is it like to be a professional dancer
Being a dancer is both a blessing and a challenge. The blessing is being able to transform subtle feelings in life into movement and share them with the audience. The challenge is maintaining physical condition, continuous training, facing both physical pain and emotional pressure, and constantly pushing beyond my limits. But through these challenges, I feel the depth of a dancer’s life expanding continuously.

RMP: What future dance roles would you like to perform
I don’t have specific roles I long for at the moment. What matters most to me is that each performance leaves a lasting impression. That, to me, is the greatest achievement.

RMP: What are the challenges of dance
The biggest challenge is maintaining physical and mental well-being through years of training and performances. The body needs to stay in its best condition, while the mind must not be consumed by pressure or self-doubt. Keeping my own rhythm while juggling all that physical and emotional pressure isn’t easy, but it matters the most. That’s why, in my downtime, I practice yoga and meditation to stay aware of my physical and emotional state at all times.

RMP: Describe the style and message of the Vancouver show
Performing BIRDY in Vancouver, we bring together contemporary movements with traditional Peking opera props—the Lingzi (feather) and rattan rods. For me, the work explores the tension between freedom and confinement, and between the individual and the collective. I don’t think the audience needs to “understand” a literal story. Instead, I hope they can feel the flow of our breath and energy. We sometimes soar, sometimes scatter, and each section invites the audience to sense the connections among the dancers, whether harmonious or full of struggle. As you follow us through the journey of the piece, let your own body and emotions respond to the energy we generate. Whatever you feel in that moment is the message the work truly hopes to share.

CHENG I-han, Rehearsal Director & Dancer, former dancer of Cloud Gate

RMP: What was your early dance training
Like many dancers in Taiwan, my early training included ballet, modern dance, and folkl dance. After joining Cloud Gate, I focused on martial arts and Tai Chi Dao-Yin, and also explored gymnastics, capoeira, and juggling. Together, these trainings have enriched my physical vocabulary and given me a variety of movement experiences.

RMP: How did you get involved in dance
When I was a child, my mom asked me which extracurricular class I wanted to take, and I said I wanted to dance. And I’ve been dancing until today.

RMP: What are your favorite dance roles
Contemporary dance doesn’t always assign “roles.” More often, we are encouraged to “be ourselves,” and I really enjoy that.
Audiences always ask, what is it like to be a professional dancer. .nyone who can turn what they love into a career is fortunate. I feel very lucky to be a dancer!

RMP: What future dance roles would you like to perform
I have no limitations. I welcome all choreography and all types of roles—even outside dance.

RMP: What are the challenges of dance
Different stages come with different challenges, and right now, it’s probably age! I need to spend more effort on maintaining and caring for my body.

RMP: Describe the style and message of the Vancouver show
BIRDY is about searching for freedom, exploring direction, and challenging boundaries.
I believe these themes resonate with many people. I hope audiences bring their own life stories into the theatre and enter the world of BIRDY with us.

Lai Hung-chung, choreographer Photo: Terry Lin

LAI Hung-chung, choreographer

RMP: How did you get involved in dance
I started with street dance together with my older brother. It felt cool, free, and liberated me from the stiffness of classroom life.

RMP: Who were your early inspirations
I prefer not to answer this one.

RMP: What is the best part of Choreographing dance
Inspiration is only the first step. What interests me more is how those ideas take shape with other artists in the rehearsal room and on stage. Recently, I’ve become fascinated with understanding why certain ideas succeed while others don’t. How to sense whether an idea can truly stand on its own. The process feels almost like an investigative puzzle, full of paradoxes and unexpected turns. I believe every idea has a place where it can grow—on the right dancer, in the right work, at the right moment. It’s like planting different seeds in different seasons. You also have to look at the “soil”: what it has held before, what nutrients remain, and how past experiences shape the ground you’re working with. For me, choreography is about finding the conditions in which these ideas can take root and become alive, even amid uncertainty.

RMP: What are the challenges of choreography
Inspiration needs the right conditions, but the same environment soon loses its spark. So I look for different triggers—new places, new stimuli. It’s a mix of intuition and experience. You have to move toward inspiration for it to appear. Choreography starts the moment you begin that search.

RMP: Describe the performance in Vancouver and message of the dance
One key element of the work is the Lingzi, the pheasant feathers used in Peking opera. On the opera stage, they signify rank and hierarchy, but in BIRDY I wanted to break away from that formality. Here, the feathers become an extension of the spine, amplifying the vibrations of the body. As the energy travels outward, it grows stronger. What I hope the audience can feel is how invisible forces affect one another—how movement, tension, and stillness are all interconnected. Only when balance is found can the trembling finally come to rest.

RMP: How long has the company been performing
Since 2017. Next year, we will premiere “Sadly Cute” in Taiwan, a work combining temple culture, lion dance, and firecrackers to explore the idea of “ripple” and how daily life and war influence and spread.

RMP: What are your artistic highlights as a choreographer
Different periods in my career have brought different milestones. In the early years, I was drawn to large group choreography—playing with shifting formations, rhythmic layers, and the architecture of collective movement.
Later, I began focusing on integrating traditional opera, Tai Chi, and street dance into contemporary vocabulary, expanding the range of how the body could speak. After that, my attention shifted toward storytelling, toward finding ways to offer audiences an entry point for emotional connection. Most recently, I’ve been exploring the tension between rationality and emotion, and how pushing movement to its limits can awaken more subtle, instinctive responses.