Six years ago, when Cloud Gate Dance Theatre first brought the Taiwanese choreographer Lin Hwai-Min’s 1998 masterpiece Moon Water to London, I described it as “a cool work, mesmerising and elegant yet full of turbulent calm”. Seeing it again, I am struck anew by the white-hot passion at the core of its Zen-like spirituality.

Lin’s staging has an austere simplicity, with cloudy swirls on a black floor, above which is angled a silvery reflective panel. The cast wear billowing white silk trousers; the men are bare-chested and the women in flesh-coloured leotards. The soundtrack is selections from six of Bach’s suites for solo cello played (not live, alas) by Mischa Maisky. Lin himself is a maestro playing his instruments – the 19 dancers, that is – with an artfulness that elicits their most full-bodied musical expression.

In many respects Moon Water is akin to a traditional black and white ballet, except that the style in which Lin’s dancers move adheres to its own unique aesthetic. Their training includes t’ai chi, meditation, martial arts, Chinese Opera, modern dance and even calligraphy. Somehow this eclectic blend of influences produces an extraordinary alchemical reaction. The result is strong, supple and subtle dancing as precious as gold.

In the opening solo the sinewy Tsai Ming-Yuan twists and ripples his slender, articulate frame with taut power, sinking to the floor on splayed knees, then shooting up as one tendril-like leg reaches to heaven. When Huang Pei-Hua joins him, their movements rise and subside like breath, while behind them a ten-person chorus crouches, curls, balances and sways in a flow of harmonious motion.

The dancers rarely look directly at each other or out at us. Their downcast eyes lend an impression of sobriety and, more than that, an intense internalisation radically different from most Western performers. This is dancing of remarkable humility, piercing authority and unflagging discipline.

Towards the end of the performance water quietly begins to trickle on to the stage, and the black backdrop slowly rises to reveal a parallel reflective world. The vision of human pond life that ensues has a sensual, elemental beauty that acts like a balm for troubled souls.

Ends Saturday. Box office: 0844 4124300. Tour continues until May 7 2008.www.worldwidedanceuk.com

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