NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan — Most people in Taiwan are probably aware of the country’s pre-eminent performance group, Cloud Gate Dance Theater, even if they have no interest in modern dance.

台湾新北市——大多数台湾人就算对现代舞没有任何兴趣，可能也会知道这里最杰出的表演艺术团：云门舞集。

Board a bus or a subway here, and you may see images of the troupe’s dancers emblazoned on the sides. Visit the popular Tamsui district and you may catch a glimpse of the company’s gleaming new $22 million home, which opened in April. If you travel on China Airlines, Taiwan’s flagship carrier, you may even fly on the Cloud Gate Liveried Aircraft, adorned with dancers’ likenesses. The airline unveiled it last year, saying the troupe represented the “pinnacle of Taiwan culture.”

大巴或地铁上，车厢两侧装点着云门舞者们的形象。来到热门的淡水区，便可以看到这个剧团四月启用、耗资2200万美元的亮丽新剧场。如果乘坐台湾最大的中华航空公司的飞机，甚至可以搭乘“云门彩绘机”，飞机上装点着舞者们的形象。这架飞机去年开始投入运营，航空公司称，该舞团代表了“台湾文化的佼佼者”。

Founded in 1973, Cloud Gate was Taiwan’s first professional dance company. Forty-two years later, it has become a roving, bounding symbol of this island. On Wednesday, it will open the annual Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with the United States premiere of a 2013 work, “Rice.” The visit, with performances through Saturday, will be its sixth to the academy, and its first stop on a tour that will include performances in Los Angeles (January) and Washington (February). The company moves on to Paris in the spring.

云门舞集成立于1973年，是台湾第一个职业舞团。42年后，它成了与这个岛屿密不可分的流动符号。一年中有三分之一的时间，它都在世界各地巡演，星期三它将在一年一度的“下一波艺术节”(Next Wave Featival)演出，在布鲁克林音乐学院献上2013年创作的《稻禾》，长度持续整晚。这是该舞团第六次访问布鲁克林音乐学院，也是它此次美国巡演的第一站，之后舞团还将于明年一月在洛杉矶演出，于明年二月在华盛顿演出，并于春天去往巴黎。

Promoting Taiwan’s image abroad is a responsibility that Cloud Gate’s founder, artistic director and chief choreographer, Lin Hwai-Min, 68, does not take lightly.

云门舞集的创始人、艺术总监兼首席编舞林怀民今年68岁，他将提升台湾的海外形象视为重任。

“He’s a very public figure,” said Yatin Lin (no relation), a professor of dance studies at Taipei National University of the Arts. “Because of the political situation with mainland China, it’s very difficult for our political leaders to be active abroad, so many people see him as not just an artist but as a kind of cultural ambassador for Taiwan.”

“他是重要的公众人物，”国立台北艺术大学舞蹈研究教授林雅婷（与林怀民无亲戚关系）说。“因为与中国大陆的政治形势，我们的政治领导人很难在海外积极开展活动，所以很多人认为他不仅仅是艺术家，也是台湾的某种文化大使。”

This month, that commitment was on display as the choreographer marched into the rehearsal theater at the company’s new complex, clad in his signature uniform (black T-shirt, black pants) and brandishing a black backpack and a pack of cigarettes. While he settled at a table facing the stage, the company’s 22 dancers readied themselves for their first full run-through of “Rice” in a month.

本月，这位舞蹈家来到舞团新剧场的排练场，亲身演示了一下这种责任心。他穿着自己的招牌制服——黑T恤，黑裤子，手上是黑色背包和一包香烟。他坐在一张桌子上，面对舞台，舞团的22名舞者正在准备在一个月内第一次全面串演一遍他创作的《稻禾》。

As the music — a compilation of Hakka folk songs, drumming and Western classical music — began, a lone dancer strode out holding a long, quivering rattan stick. In the next 70 minutes, the dancers stamped, leapt and folded and unfolded their bodies in a demonstration of Cloud Gate’s hybrid aesthetic, which combines Western classical dance techniques with Eastern “rounded” movements that draw on martial arts and tai chi. Missing from the run-through was the production’s backdrop, a sumptuous video filmed on location over a cycle of rice cultivation in Chihshang in southeastern Taiwan.

配乐响起——是客家民谣、古典和西方交响乐的结合——一个孤独的舞者大步走上舞台，手中是一支长长的，颤颤巍巍的藤杖。在接下来的70分钟里，舞者们顿足、跳跃、收缩和伸展身体，展现云门的融合美学，它结合了西方古典舞技巧与东方的“圆”运动，这需要舞者进行特别的训练，诸如武术和太极。串演中没有背景，那是一段丰富的视频，内容是台湾西南部的池上乡，稻米从生长到收获的全过程。

Mr. Lin sat mostly silent, scribbling notes and only intermittently shouting (“Don’t rush, don’t rush!” and “Breathe!”). After the dancers took their final, choreographed bows, he stood and went through his notes, working with individuals on minor tweaks. The rehearsal had gone well and now the dancers just needed to focus on taking care of their bodies for the coming season, he told them later as they sat around him on the stage, stretching and massaging their muscles with foam rollers.

大多数时候，林怀民静静地坐着，随手做着笔记，只是偶尔才叫喊几句，诸如“别急，别急！”和“呼吸！”舞者跳完最后一段，按照设计的舞蹈动作鞠躬时，他站起身来继续做笔记，和有小问题的人进行交流。后来舞者们在舞台上围着他坐成一圈，用泡沫轴伸展身体，按摩肌肉，他告诉大家，排练很顺利，现在他们只需要好好注意身体，迎接即将到来的演出季。

Later, in the company’s offices, Mr. Lin talked about the obligations he felt toward the dancers and society.

后来，在舞团的办公室里，林怀民谈起自己对舞者们乃至整个社会的使命感。

“I often remind the dancers that when they are onstage, they are often the only Taiwanese people that a lot of people get to see that are actually labeled as Taiwanese,” he said.

“我经常提醒舞者们，当他们在舞台上的时候，他们就是很多人所能见到的仅有的，被贴上‘台湾人’标签的台湾人，”他说。“每当我看着他们在舞台上的时候，我都真心喜爱他们，我简直爱慕他们。因为突然之间，台湾人就显得那样自信、那样健康、那样优雅。在五六十年代成长起来的我们身上就没有这种东西。”

Much has changed since Mr. Lin was born in Taiwan in 1947. Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang’s National Revolutionary Army fled here in 1949 after losing the civil war to Mao’s Chinese Communists. The Kuomintang ruled Taiwan with an authoritarian hand for decades until 1996, when Taiwanese voters elected their president for the first time. Taiwan has been considered a democracy ever since (and may elect its first female president in January), but the island remains a disputed territory.

林怀民于1947年出生在台湾，自那以后发生了很大变化。1949年，蒋介石与他的国民革命军在内战中败给了毛泽东的中国共产党，于是逃来台湾。国民党以独裁手段统治台湾数十年，直至1996年，台湾选民第一次票选出自己的总统。自那以后，台湾被视为民主政权（一月还有可能选出首位女总统），但是这个岛仍然属于争议领土。

Growing up as the oldest of five children, Mr. Lin nurtured multiple passions, for politics, writing and dance. Only years later, while a student at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, did he decide to pursue choreography. He had spent two summers in New York studying dance at the Martha Graham School, and after completing his degree at Iowa he returned to Taiwan, and soon started Cloud Gate.

林怀民是五个兄弟姐妹中的老大，他兴趣广泛，对政治、写作和舞蹈都有深深的热情。几年后，他到爱荷华大学的作家学习班学习，决心学习编舞。他花了两个暑假，在纽约的玛莎·格雷厄姆学校(Martha Graham School)学舞蹈，修完爱荷华的学位之后，他回到台湾，不久后创立了云门。

The company’s birth came just two years after what Mr. Lin, like many other Taiwanese, sees as a defining moment in the nation’s recent political history: the 1971 resolution that displaced the government in Taipei as the representative of China at the United Nations in favor of the government in Beijing.

舞团诞生两年前，林怀民和众多台湾人一起见证了台湾近代政治历史上的决定性时刻：1971年，联合国以北京政府取代台北政府，作为中国代表。

“When I started the company I said, ‘Composed by Chinese, choreographed by Chinese, danced by Chinese, for a Chinese audience,’ ” said Mr. Lin, whose family has lived in Taiwan for generations. “Then Taiwan was kicked out of the U.N. and all of a sudden I had to figure out who I was.”

“刚刚创立舞团时我说，‘中国人作曲、中国人编舞、中国人跳给中国观众，’”数代定居台湾的林怀民说，“然后台湾就被赶出联合国，突然之间，我要想清楚自己是谁。”

The event inspired “Legacy” (1978), which portrayed the early history of Taiwan. It was followed by such works as “Songs of the Wanderers,” “Moon Water” and the “Cursive” trilogy.

这段经历成为了《薪传》(1978)的灵感来源，它展现了台湾的早年历史，以及它的第一批开拓者。其后舞团还推出了《流浪者之歌》、《水月》和《行草》三部曲。

Reviews of Cloud Gate’s performances in the United States have been mixed. Critics have lauded the company's East-meets-West approach, with Anna Kisselgoff writing in The New York Times in 2003 that “Moon Water” was a “work unlike any other.” But Alastair Macaulay of The Times wrote in 2011 that the works were “repetitive” and called “Water Stains on the Wall” “devoid of lightness and humor.”

在美国，对云门的表演评价不一。评论家们赞美它的东西方结合方式，2003年，安娜·基塞格夫(Anna Kisselgoff)为《纽约时报》撰文，称《水月》是“与众不同的杰作”，然而2011年，阿拉斯泰尔·麦考利(Alastair Macaulay)说云门的作品“啰嗦”，说《屋漏痕》“缺乏轻快和幽默的气息”。

As the company’s stature grew, so too did the modern dance scene in Taiwan.

随着舞团的名气日益增长，现代舞在台湾也有了长足发展。

“Before Cloud Gate, there wasn’t even such thing as a wuzhe,” said Ping Heng, 57, the founder and artistic director of Dance Forum Taipei, using the term for dancer. “Before, people thought dancing was something you could do in school, but it wasn’t something worthy of being a profession. They just called dancers ‘tiaowu de ren,’ ” literally, people who dance.

“在云门舞集之前，（台湾）根本没有所谓‘舞者’一说，”台北舞蹈空间舞团的创始人兼艺术总监，57岁的平珩说。“以前，人们觉得舞蹈是可以在学校里跳跳的东西，但并不觉得它值得成为职业。他们只是管舞者叫‘跳舞的人’。”

Lin Lee-Chen, 65, the founder and artistic director of the Legend Lin Dance Theater in Taipei, said, “The dance scene in Taiwan today is very diverse,” with dance companies “of all sizes and styles.”

台北无垢舞蹈剧场的创始人兼艺术总监林丽珍说，“如今台湾的舞蹈场景非常多样化，有很多规模不一，风格各异的舞团。”

When asked about his possible retirement, Mr. Lin of Cloud Gate was reluctant to comment. But he acknowledged that the company’s new complex, which he said would allow his troupe and other dance and theatrical ventures to perpetuate the “Cloud Gate energy,” would make it easier for him to step away.

被问到何时退休时，林怀民不太愿意回答。但他承认，舞团的新剧场让其他舞蹈和戏剧团体也可以传承“云门精神”，而不仅仅是服务他自己的舞团，因此他要退下来就变得容易得多。

Still, “I don’t want any statues,” he said. “I’m a Buddhist. I think everything is just illusory, especially for dancers.

但是，“我不想树立任何雕像，”他说。“我信佛，我觉得一切都是幻影，特别是对于舞者们来说。”

“We know that dance happens, but it also vanishes when it happens,” he said. “All we are creating is air. We are giving society a different air, that’s all.”

“我们知道舞蹈发生了，但它在发生的同时就在消失。我们创造的只是一种氛围。你给这个社会带来另一种氛围，这就够了。”