By Lewis Whittington, For The Bulletin
On a gray January day at the Chi Movement Center in South Philadelphia, members of Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers (KYL/D) were only halfway through a full day of classes and rehearsals, but still had energy to burn.
The troupe was about to run through “A-U-M” and “Chi,” two of four works to be performed as the company’s first full program presented in Philadelphia at the Painted Bride Art Center.
Mr. Lin, choreographer and artistic director, cues the dancers as they drop to a meditative pose, their breathing the only sound in the room until a recorded sound field floats over them. The piece has a transcendental feel, with yoga poses and tai-chi moves, contrasting Mr. Lin’s communal formations with chaotic movement. The company’s executive director, Ken Metzner, sitting off to the side, is Mr. Lin’s life partner. He joins in on the meditative instructions called out by the dancers.
A-U-M “absorbs yogic movement,” according to Mr. Lin, so the poses do not look inserted and the work has such serene drive that you are not aware of time. The dance is meant to draw on the dancers’ skill and inner peace, to build the troupe’s communal strength in a frantic world. Its effect creates a hypnotic energy field for the dancers and, eventually, the audience.
Mr. Whittington’s arts profiles, features, and stories have appeared in The Advocate, Dance International, Playbill, American Theatre, American Record Guide, The Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, EdgeMedia, and Philadelphia Dance Journal. Mr. Whittington has received two NEA awards for journalistic excellence.
In addition to interviews with choreographers, dancers, and artistic directors from every discipline, he has interviewed such music luminaries from Ned Rorem to Eartha Kitt. He has written extensively on gay culture and politics and is most proud of his interviews with such gay rights pioneers as Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings.
Mr. Whittington has participated on the poetry series Voice in Philadelphia and has written two (unpublished) books of poetry. He is currently finishing Beloved Infidels, a play about the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. His editorials on GLBTQ activism, marriage equality, gay culture and social issues have appeared in Philadelphia Inquirer, City Paper, and The Advocate.
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