Miroirs de vie

A tribute to the rituals, the religious and profane ceremonies of Taiwan, but also to the theatre passed down from generation to generation, its melodies rooted in a remote past, and its songs sung for aeons.

This piece was created in 1995, and revived in 2006 in Taipei. In this performance, Lee-chen Lin pays tribute to the earth as the sanctuary of the soul. Through propitiatory rites, the human soul is purified of its ills and the mind feels free. A tribute to the rituals, the religious and profane ceremonies of Taiwan, but also to the theatre passed down from generation to generation, its melodies rooted in a remote past, and its songs sung for aeons. It evokes the eternal human quest for awakening and self-consciousness.

How can the past shape the future?

Time is as a river, continuous and inseparable. The past, the present, and the future seems to be three different concepts, however, if we narrow down every “present,” like from this year, today, this minute, this second, even to the moment in which a thought flies away, every “present” dies as the past, and it also decides how the future comes.
Life is like a tree, nurtured from the earth. Some of what happened to us goes with the wind, while some kept in our memory accumulates as layers of earth. The deeper and richer the soil is, the taller and stronger the tree can grow. Likewise, my creation comes from every moment in my life, and the changing of time plays a great role to the maturity of it.

Lee-chen Lin

Source: Biennale de la Danse de Lyon 2008 programme