Li Chen Lin’s dance pieces are known for their intensely slow and imperceptible movements, punctuated by frenetic action—a style built upon Legend Lin Dance Theatre’s motto of “tranquility, stability, release, calmness, slowness, strength”, which has resulted in a highly distinctive repertoire of work spanning two decades.

Lin first came to prominence as a choreographer at a girls’ high school in the 1970s but retired in the early ’80s to raise her son and spend time discovering Taiwan’s aboriginal tribes.

She returned to the stage in 1995, forming the Legend Lin Dance Theatre with the goal of revitalizing Taiwanese culture and arts in the face of globalization. The dance company is acclaimed for the quartet of large-scale productions inspired by Taiwanese folklore and rituals: Mirrors of Life (1995), Anthem to the Fading Flowers (2000), Song of Pensive Beholding (2009), and The Eternal Tides (2017).

To mark the work’s 20th anniversary, Lin revived Anthem in late 2020, which helped fill in the gaps of performing arts centres whose programs were disrupted by the pandemic.