The inspiration for Cloud Gate's current production Moon Water is the t'ai chi state of calm, in which a person's "energy flows as water and [their] spirit shines as the moon". As certain excessively calm t'ai chi-based shows have demonstrated, this state is best experienced directly. When staged it can make audiences develop a very un-t'ai chi grudge against performers more interested in breath control than keeping us amused. But Cloud Gate's choreographer, Lin Hwai-min, has made his career out of a canny fusion of east and west aesthetics. And in Moon Water some of the images he creates from his 16 immaculate dancers are stirringly beautiful.
The stage is a bare, black canvas against which the company's white silk costumes swirl an intricate calligraphy. Bach's solo cello suites weave their own austere lines into the pattern; large suspended mirrors and golden lighting dramatically enlarge the space. It all feels very refined, very zen, and the t'ai chi base of the dancers' style is instantly recognisable. Cloud Gate's movements are so bonelessly fluent that they do indeed flow like water - water that can be as light as a trickle or as weighty as a tidal mass. But the company are equally expert in the more forceful language of western dance, and high arabesques, full-bodied lifts and dramatic falls frequently stir their gentler currents of dance into small storms and glittering displays.
Structurally, Lin also livens up his choreography by maintaining a state of flux. He deftly contrasts solos and choruses, plays with patterns and speed, and evokes a succession of images that flicker briefly to the surface and dissolve. Fleetingly the dancers flock together like water birds, or blossom like exotic plants. They drift like seaweed and unfurl like the ribbons on a kite. But for all his adroitness, Lin does expect us to work very hard, and the essentially monochrome base of his material can make some of the show's 70 minutes feel very long.
Still, the final section turned out to justify the wait. As water gently began to wash over the floor, the stage started to shine and reflect like the surface of a beautiful planet. The device was almost mundane in its simplicity, yet as the entire Cloud Gate cast tracked serenely across the stage they looked like some alien species of angel.
Until Saturday. Box office: 020-7863 8000.
