Audience Reviews

AUDIENCE REVIEW: Igniting The Flame KYL/D asks, "HOW WE RISE?"

Company:
Kun-Yang Lin and Dancers

Performance Date:
Nov. 8 2025

Freeform Review:

The benefit gala for KYL/D "Igniting The Flame' brought togehter at the Performance Garage in Philadelphia a full circle. The space invited  a community of dance enthusiasts, dancers, and friends. The transition and communication of rites designed by Kun-Yang Lin and dancers shows an Asian American Contemporary Movement. 

Rendering its myth and character around a nucleus, 'Kylin's Garden' a piece created in 1997. The evening invited dancers that have been through the company and where they take on a discipline of modern dance by recreating the energy that KYL/D started. 'Glacier' by Jessica Warchall-King Dance Lab delivered the message of a growing awareness for our surroundings. The impact of a global event and the tending to the dance studio of a destination we gather to hold mirrors up to the world.

The theater was sold out, with every seat filled and 'Spring 101' set for  what seemed to be an even larger ensemble than usual. The music entertained the idea of a freedom of movement in the moving Baroque instrumentals. Moments  when the lights take us out of the shadows, a new  tableau of costumes brought color to the stage. Reimagined from our natural environement to our most cherished memories.

BloodEarth created by KYL/Dancers Weiwei Ma, and Evalina 'Wally' Carbonell from 2022 at Uptown Knauer Performance Art Center in West Chester, Pa. The likes of earth tones and rites that look up to the world beyond ourselves. The event leads us to conclusion of the fire chapel.

The 2026 Season of the fire horse, the Chinese New Year that ushers in the World Premiere of 'Echo and Flame: FengHuang Awakens' by Kun-Yang Lin envisions a chapel of fire, of wisdom, a chapel burnt to the ground by the dance. The darkness dissipated, the mirror clear, and the performance taken place is of the falcon of Eastern mythology, and the pheonix of the West together rising out of the sparks.

Author:
Chuck Schultz

Website:
WHYSEEART.com

Photo Credit:
Chuck Schultz