Taiwanese Choreographer Premieres Pulitzer-Winning Ocean Work with Hungarian Artist

In the contemporary arts scene, cross-disciplinary dialogues between literature and music frequently spark remarkable innovations. Recently, the domestic performing arts community welcomed a highly anticipated international co-production. LEE\VAKULYA, an artistic duo composed of Taiwan-based choreographer Li Chen-wei, who resides in Europe, and Hungarian artist Zoltán Farkas, has transformed John Adams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary composition, “Become Ocean,” into a moving physical vocabulary for its premiere on Taiwan’s stage. This work is more than a pure dance performance; it is a profound meditation on the relationship between human civilization and the natural environment. By weaving dynamic body lines with the majestic power of the symphony, the production attempts to recreate the vastness and mystery of the ocean within the theatrical space.

The core inspiration of this work traces back to the 2014 achievement of American composer John Adams, who received the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his orchestral work “Become Ocean.” Adams, a leading figure in minimalist and post-minimalist music, is known for a style that utilizes repetition, gradual transitions, and a dense orchestral texture to create auditory landscapes reminiscent of towering waves and deep-sea vortices. The spirit of the original composition is not merely a depiction of the ocean’s surface grandeur; rather, it contains a deep reflection on Earth’s ecological evolution, glacial melting, and the insignificance and impermanence of humanity in the face of immense natural forces. Li and Farkas were drawn to this musical energy, which is both oppressive and incredibly gentle, and decided to give it three-dimensional form, allowing audiences to “see” the flow of music with their eyes and senses, not just hear it.

In terms of choreographic structure and presentation, “Become Ocean” cleverly employs the interplay between group and solo dances to echo the complex nature of the natural world, which is both a collective whole and a collection of individuals. On stage, the dancers sometimes coalesce into an irreversible, powerful wave, using unified, imposing group movements to demonstrate the ocean’s absolute power to engulf all. At other times, they disperse into isolated individuals, performing delicate, fragile, and tense solos that express the struggle and sense of isolation of human beings under the shadow of natural disasters or climate change. These dynamic shifts not only test the physical and technical limits of the dancers but also create a strong visual contrast. Through the dancers’ breathing and the tremors of their muscles, audiences deeply feel the tense relationship between humanity and nature, one that is both dependent and oppositional.

From a broader cultural and social perspective, the creation of this work coincides with a global era of intense focus on climate change and environmental sustainability. Contemporary theater art has long transcended mere entertainment, gradually becoming a vital platform for social dialogue and reflection. Through the intervention of physical art, Li and Farkas have brought the serious contemporary classical music of the concert hall into the inclusive space of the theater, infusing the Pulitzer-winning work with new vitality. This performance is not only a significant milestone in the artistic careers of the two choreographers but also provides Taiwan’s audience with a rare opportunity to re-examine the symbiotic contract between humanity and the planet through internationally acclaimed contemporary dance.

With the official premiere of “Become Ocean” in Taiwan, the local arts community has once again witnessed the powerful energy of deep collaboration between local and international creators. This work not only demonstrates the infinite possibilities of cross-disciplinary artistic transformation but also successfully guides the public to shift their attention from the trivialities of daily life to the grand issues of natural ecology. In the aesthetic feast woven by the surging musical waves and the dancers’ bodies, every audience member entering the theater seems to rise and fall with the music, prompting a rethinking of humanity’s position and future direction in the natural world under the purifying effect of art. (Source: CNA)